Their Grand Order
by Lanieden
Summary: A re-imagining of fate/grand order. This will be a different journey with characters having their personalities altered and the singularities themselves seeing change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Greetings, it is I, Lanieden, here with a fate fanfic. Riveting. Anywho, with this fic I'll alter characters personalities, it'll just be a couple so don't worry, most will stay the same, to give them more depth. I'm talking about Ritsuka - We shall refer to Mc-kun as that from now on and that's that - who in the game is but a wet noodle, and, now stay with me, Mash. I know, I know, "_how could you? She's the perfect kouhai." _Eh, I was never too much of a fan of her, so don't expect to see your sweet kouhai anytime soon, plus a change to her character would be the best for this story. Everyone else should be relatively the same, except for a couple of characters but it'll be fine, trust me. Yes? Yes. **

**Well, just so you know I'll put an author's note at the top and at the bottom of each chapter. The top will just be me writing stuff of no importance and the bottom one will be were I talk about the chapter and the story in general.**

**Goodbye, then. Until we meet again.**

* * *

"Umm, mister, could you wake up? It isn't nighttime or morning, so I assume something happened to you, but, even so, you should probably wake up." As the girl spoke to the unconscious boy her small furry pet began sniffing the boys head, and after apparently satisfying himself he began licking the unconscious boy's cheek. Apparently that did the trick, as the boy was opening his eyes.

"Argh, my head," He whined.

"Are you okay?" She asked passively.

"Hm? Oh, ah, yes," He seemed confused upon waking up on a hallway with a girl and a white animal staring at him. "Erm, if you don't mind, what's your name?"

"My name? It's really nothing worth mentioning, so you don't really need to know." She stared at the boy who looked at her quizzly. "Though I do have a name, I just haven't had many opportunities to use it . . . So, I can't really make an impressionable introduction, but that doesn't really matter, I guess."

The boy scoffed as she finished, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the girl. "Nonsense, everyone's name is worth remembering, especially that of my saviour's." He said.

"S-Saviour?" This had caught her off guard. She had never been anyone's saviour and here he was calling her his. She was beyond taken aback.

"So please, don't ever say your name is something not worth mentioning, alright?" He gave an easy smile which the girl could only answer with a nod. "So then, your name is?"

"M-Mash" She said, still stunned by his brazen attitude towards a complete stranger.

"Well then, Mash, lovely name by the way," She muttered an awkward thanks and he continued on. "Do you, perchance, know where we are?"

Now that really caught her off guard. "Chaldea,"

"Ah, yes, I see," He nodded sagely. "Chaldea, yes . . . What is a Chaldea?"

"Erm, Chaldea is an observatory," She saw him stare at her very intently. "Um, I believe you should talk with the director for more information regarding Chaldea." _Though you should already know by now, since you _are _here, after all. God knows how hard it is to get here, since it's so high up in the mountains and all that, and since it isn't really that entertaining a place . . . unless of course you're interested in the work being done here or-_

The young man started speaking, snapping Mash away from her thoughts. "The director, huh, what kind of person is he, I wonder," He smiled as he spoke, and Mash slapped herself on her cheeks for letting her thoughts drift. Upon seeing her slap he asked, "Erm, is everything fine?"

Mash snapped her gaze back at the young man. "Yes, no problem at all, you were saying?"

"Ah, of course, could you take me to the dire-"

"Ah, Mash, there you are." Both of them turned and saw an older man walking towards them. "You know better than to walk around around without someone accompanying you."

"Yes, of course, Mr. Lev." She muttered with a bow.

"Though I see that you are not so alone now." Lev said.

"Is she not allowed allowed to wander around Chaldea?" The young man asked questioningly.

"Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself. I am Lev Lynur, a technician employed here," He spoke as he tipped his green top hat, his long, unruly brown hair falling down his shoulders. "And about Mash wandering, she isn't really allowed to wander off on her own, due to some reasons that you might be able to find out should you stay here long enough."

"I see," He said, dissatisfied at the vagueness of his Lev's words. "Anywho, it shouldn't matter too much for her to wander around now that she has me with her, should it?"

Mash stared at the young man questioningly. She didn't know why he was trying to defend her, after all, she had gone off on her own even after being told multiple times to do anything but. _But I guess he doesn't know that yet, even so, what would compel him to help me? Is there really any gain in this for him? I doubt it, and yet he is still trying to defend me. I guess there really are a lot of people out the-_

"You would be correct," Lev began, Mash once again being snapped away from her own thoughts. "That is, of course, if you had any experience working here at Chaldea, which you do not."

"That's fair, I won't disagree with that." The young man said, looking slightly irked at having no rebuttal. It was clear that he was thinking of something to say back at him, but before he could Lev started talking once again.

"But worry not, young man, I am sure that someone with your reputation and lineage will make it far here at Chaldea."

Mash picked up on the words spoken there, reputation and lineage. That would mean he came from a good family and was skilled in both magic and academics, probably. But that made her question why he would go out of his way to help her if he was of a high society, there was nothing for him to gain by defending her.

"I see you have heard of my family." The young man scratched the back of his neck, his smile becoming slightly strained.

"Yes, I have heard of your family and their wondrous legacy, they have certainly accomplished plenty in their time," Lev said with a satisfied nod. "But don't think that just because of that you'll have an easy time here at Chaldea. I expect you to pull your own weight, no family name will help you here."

The young man chuckled as Lev finished speaking. "I wouldn't have it any other way Mr. Lev."

"That's the attitude, but if you plan to stay true to your words you might want to arrive on time to your meetings." The young man tilted his head to the side, not understanding what meant. "After all, you are supposed to be in a meeting with the director and the other participants."

"I am?"

"Yes, yes you are, so I recommend heading over to the meeting." He pointed down the hallway. "Mash, if you'd be so kind as to accompany us over to the meeting, since we can't have you wandering off on your own, and all that."

"Of course professor Lev."

With that, the group walked down the many hallways until they reached an elevator which would take them to the floors below.

The walk to the elevator was relatively silent, and so was the descent to the lower floors. Mash saw the young man fidgeting as he looked out the clear glass of the elevator. Mash, guessing that he was feeling awkward under the silence, and since she wanted to learn more about him and his motives, decided to break the silence.

"What is your name?"

"Huh," The young man turned to look at Mash. "Ah, yes, how silly of me. My name is Ritsuka, it's a pleasure to meet you Mash." He extended his hand forward, a smile always present on his face.

Mash stared at the hand curiously, and then back at Ritsuka. After a minute of Being under Mash's gaze Ritsuka began to blush and proceeded to retracted his hand, scratching the back of his neck with it while also avoiding her stare.

"No hand shaking then?" He breathed in and out and seemed to have regained his composure. "I guess that's not to common here in Japan, huh? Though I swear people have done plenty of hand shaking in the mangas I've read."

Mash adjusted her glasses. "No, I apologize, it isn't uncommon for people to shake hands here in Japan, I was simply curious as to why you wanted to."

"The reason behind it?" Ritsuka held his chin between his thumb and index finger. "There really wasn't any special reason behind it . . . It's just something people do."

"I see." Mash said pensively. "So you are not from Japan?"

"Yes, I'm from London, actually, but my mother is Japanese so she decided that I should have a japanese name."

"Yes, Mash, you see," Professor Lev began. "Ritsuka here is from a well established mage family," _Yes, I knew that, though you didn't say it explicitly before, it was fairly obvious that you said that his family was powerful. Anyways, since your magical capabilities are only as good as your lineage I assume that he is a strong mage, he certainly appears confident, though he seems to be on the weaker side physically spea- _"And so you see, Mash, not only is his family accomplished so is he, to an extent, at least. Though his siblings have proved to be geniuses in their fields Ritsuka here has proved himself more than capable of keeping up. You could do well to learn from him, Mash."

Mash, having realized she missed a chunk of the conversation simply nodded, and Ritsuka kept scratching the back of his neck, smiling embarrassedly at professor Lev's words. Mash, not ecstatic to receive another lecture on paying attention, asked more questions to make it seem she had been paying attention.

"Ritsuka, is there a reason as to why you couldn't remember Chaldeas back when you woke up?"

At this, professor Lev looked over at Ritsuka, expectant of an answer.

"Ah, well," Ritsuka avoided their gaze. "You see, I'm not the most healthy person around, no, let me rephrase that, my body isn't peak condition, it is on the frailer side, so the change in altitude might've had an effect on me. But that doesn't mean I can't run or anything like that, you don't need to worry about me regarding anything like that." He quickly added.

"First I've heard of this," The professor said. "Is there a reason why you didn't say?"

"Erm, well, it's just a minor thing really. There was no need to make a big deal out of it, wouldn't you agree?"

"Is that so, but you do remember the reason for you coming here, or Chaldeas' objective?"

Ritsuka snapped his look towards the corner of the elevator, twiddling his thumbs at very high speeds. "W-Well, professor Lev, it's not that I don't remember, it's just tha-"

"You don't remember." Mash stated. Ritsuka stopped what he was doing and his smile began to quiver. "If you don't remember why pretend that you do? Is there any point?"

"Erm, when you put it like that . . ." Ritsuka scratched the back of his neck once again.

"Well?" Mash stared straight at Ritsuka.

Ritsuka sighed. "There isn't really a reason, so don't worry about it, ok?" He said, looking at Mash with an easy smile.

The elevator made ringed and opened the doors, everyone walked out and went down towards the meeting room. Mash stared at Ritsuka's back as they walked, thinking about why he acted the way he did. _He refuses to answer, why? There is no gain for him at all, only loss . . . Curious._

They made it to the meeting room. The doors opened and they entered, interrupting the director's, Olga Marie's, speech. She stood there in front of a board with images being projected upon it, wearing her usual orange and black dress with a red cravat, her white hair tied into a braid that fell down her shoulders, and an ever present scowl on her face, which now looked seemingly more irritated than usual.

"What is the meaning of this professor Lev?" Demanded Marie, but before the professor had a chance to answer she began talking. "Don't you know this is an important time. You should have been here at the start of the meeting, you are a key component in Chaldea, therefore you should be present when we introduce the new members to the mission. Furthermore, not only where you late, but extremely late, we are three quarters done with it. It seems you have forgotten that this is a mission which the whole world is relying on to succeed, but I suppose that does not matter as much as strolling around the hallways of Chaldea doing diddly squat."

Professor Lev put his hands up defensively. "Olga, please, surely you must have realized we were missing not only Mash but another member of the master candidates here in this meeting," Marie looked at both Mash and Ritsuka with a furrowed brow. "So I went to search for them, but that sadly took longer than expected."

"So you knew there were people missing in this meeting?"

"Yes, I was informed by the staff, and I thought it prudent to search for them, after all I know handling a simple meeting is well within your abilities, Olga."

The director sighed and her features relaxed as she stared at the trio, but just as quickly she furrowed her brows.

"Understood, you are forgiven just this once, but hurry up and take a sit somewhere, it doesn't matter where." And with that the director continued talking about the mission and its objective.

Mash, already knowing full well the details of the mission stared at the ceiling, thinking back at the irrational actions of Ritsuka. She just couldn't understand him.

_Well, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by that, there aren't many people here who I do understand, but none of them act like Ritsuka. Most people here don't do anything without a reason behind it, well, I suppose that's an exaggeration, but not many people here acted on whims, except those new to Chaldea, and even then it only lasted for a year or so. _

She thought back to when she met the other master candidates and how they had also tried to help her, similarly to how Ritsuka did, but she knew there was a reason behind it. They wanted to talk to her to suck up to someone who had been here for a long time, they simply wanted something to do, or they had the intention of entering a relationship with her. Mash felt irked at that, but she hadn't felt any of that from Ritsuka, it was disconcerting. She had never met someone who hadn't had any reasonable motive behind their actions. Sure, she knew there were plenty of people who did unreasonable things, but most of the time they had a reason behind it, usually enjoyment or a sense of escapism, not Ritsuka. Maybe he was one of those selfless people she had heard so much about, but she was still unsure about him.

Mash looked over at him and he was sleeping. She tilted her head and did a double take. He was sleeping. _Guess he really had been tired. Why didn't he say so then? _She stared at him for a little bit and then reached out to shake him awake when she realized the director had stopped talking.

"Oh my goodness," The director lamented, putting a hand over her face. "Can't anything go right today?" She made a gap in between her fingers and looked over at Ritsuka. "If I remember correctly his name was Ritsuka, if the reports were anything to go by. Anyways, professor Lev, you who were with him beforehand, did he seem at all strange when you met him?" Professor Lev was about to speak up but simply didn't get a chance to. "He didn't seem tired when he arrived at the meeting room, and I sure hope that he didn't fall asleep simply because this was a boring meeting, if that were the case I'd send him packing back to his family right now. I don't care if they are angry about it, I expect everyone to do their best, anything less and that's that, this goes for everyone in this room."

"Erm, yes, well, Olga, you see, when I met him, actually it's more when Mash met him he wa-"

"Mash was alone?" The director interrupted. Professor Lev nodded and the director furrowed her eyebrows further, she then motioned him to go on.

"As I was saying, when Mash met him he was unconscious an-"

"Unconscious, you say?" The director began, once again. "But you said that was when Mash met him, I gather when you arrive he was already awake?"

"Yes, he was awake and in fine condition, so much so that I didn't know he had passed out until Mash mentioned it the way here." Professor Lev stopped himself here so as to not be interrupted by the director once again.

"So he was fine after he had woken up . . . Did he say what was the reason behind his passing out?"

"Yes, he said it was the altitude change, it took a toll on his body which apparently isn't the strongest, though he assured us that he was fine and that it was a one time thing."

"So it's possible he is weaker than the reports said," The director muttered, now turning her gaze back at professor Lev she spoke. "Lev, if a staff member, or anyone for that matter, passed out or the like, make sure that they get medical attention unless it's an urgent matter. Even if they tell you they're fine make consultations with someone of the medical staff, we can't have people playing hero on this mission, needless casualties will only hurt the mission. Now take him to the medics and give him a check up, something he should've had upon waking up. Seriously, it wouldn't matter too much if he had missed this meeting, we could've given him a small briefing afterwards." She then blinked a couple times as if making a double take, her face then gave a rare nervous smile as she tried to cover her previous words. "N-Not to say that it wouldn't matter if you had missed this meeting, on the contrary, this meeting is important, yes. It contains important information regarding this mission which you will need if you are to succeed." She looked over at the room of eyes staring straight at her, and her face contorted back to her angry visage. The director directed her attention at professor Lev. "Well? Go on ahead, you missed more than half the meeting it won't matter if you miss it all, after all you have been here long enough to know the ins and outs. But do make sure to tell kid he isn't going on the first mission."

The director went back to explaining the details of the mission and most of the others present awkwardly turned their attention back towards her. Mash shook Ritsuka awake and told him what had transpired when he had been asleep. Ritsuka clicked his tongue but took everything in stride, he stood and walked towards the exit with professor Lev and Mash, but once they were at the door professor Lev stopped Mash, asking her if she had permission to go with them. Mash looked over at the director and once their eyes met, the director made a shooing motion.

"I suppose I'll take that as a yes." Muttered Lev as the three left the meeting room.

They once again made it to the elevator and waited for it to reach the correct floor.

"Ritsuka," Mash began. "Why didn't you tell us you weren't fully well? Was there a reason?"

Ritsuka stared out of the elevator for a bit, at the large contraption called Sheba which would allow this mission to function, and then turned around with an easy smile. "I legitimately thought I was fine, but I suppose I was wrong." He chuckled.

Mash was about to continue but the elevator opened.

"Oh my," Ritsuka began, walking out of the elevator, Mash behind him. "Is it just me or was this a lot quicker?"

"It was quicker, Ritsuka, you see, the medical wing is closer to the lower levels were the meeting was being held at." Professor Lev explained. "Anyways, Mash, would you be so kind as to escort Ritsuka here to the medical office, I have a few errands to run, and I'm sure Ritsuka will make sure you stay out of trouble." With that, the elevator's door closed and Mash was left alone with Ritsuka.

"Umm, well then, shall we get going?" Ritsuka asked staring at the white hallway that went on before them.

Mash nodded and they began walking, but it was not two minutes before Mash brought up the topic of him fainting again.

"Mash, I swear, I didn't expect to fall unconscious at the meeting, if anything, if I had expected it why would I have gone in the first place? I'm sure that professor Lev would've understood, besides the fact that I had nothing to gain from it" Ritsuka persuaded.

"Yes, that is what bothers me, you had no reasonable gain from feigning health, that's what confuses me." Mash scratched her chin as she mulled over her thoughts.

"Exactly, there was nothing for me to gain, so you should understand that there is no real good reason for me to have feigned health."

"I suppose that's true, though you could also be one of those people who lets pride cloud their judgment, though you don't seem the kind so I'll take your word for it." Mash settled.

"Thank goodness," He sighed with relief. "But we have talked far too much about me, what about you?"

"Me? I'm afraid there is nothing worth noting about myself." Mash stated matter of factly.

"Is that so? I find that hard to believe."

"I can assure you."

Ritsuka placed his hands behind his head as he walked. "I can't believe you, even if you yourself believe that I simply can't. After all, everyone has something of worth within them."

"It seems you won't change your mind about that, therefore I won't try to change it."

"Is that so . . ."

With that the conversation stopped and they both silently made their way across the white hallways. Mash stopped thinking so much about Ritsuka's fainting as he was fairly genuine in his responses, but that also meant that she had nothing to do. It's not that she minded being bored, it was simply that Ritsuka seemed to be different to the other staff members of Chaldea, well, he still was, but she couldn't help but think of him as less intriguing now that she got to know him a bit better.

The walk was silent. Mash saw Ritsuka fidgeting a bit and started wondering how long it would be till he decided to start another conversation. It appears it wouldn't be long, but not for the reason Mash expected.

As they walked Mash saw up ahead the head of the medical staff, Romani Archaman, who kept looking backwards as he carried a piece of cake.

"Doctor." Mash called out.

"Ah, who?" The doctor asked, he quickly hid his piece of cake behind him as he looked over to the source of the sound. Upon seeing both of them he relaxed. "Oh, Mash, it's just you. Gave me scare there."

"I assume you are once again abandoning your duties." Mash said.

"I actually finished them, so I'm not really abandoning anything." The doctor said with a nervous smile.

"Is that so. Well, now you have the opportunity to do something productive with your time." Mash motioned towards Ritsuka. "His name is Ritsuka and he suffered two faintings. He is here on the director's orders so make sure he is well for the next mission."

The doctor listened to the information and blinked. "Next mission? He's not going on this one?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"I see," The doctor sighed. "Well, you can leave him with me. Mash, you can go on ahead back to the others, I'm sure the director is expecting you."

Mash gave a curt nod to both men and headed back from where they came.

Once they were alone the doctor stopped hiding his cake and began eating it. "That girl sure works hard."

"Erm, doctor?" Ritsuka asked.

"Please, call me Roman. There's no need for formalities." Roman said, scratching his long, light orange hair.

"If that's what you want, but are you sure about letting Mash go off on her own?" Ritsuka asked, somewhat worriedly. "Professor Lev said that she shouldn't be off on her own before."

Roman stared at him with the fork on his mouth. "Oh, you don't need to worry about her." He began to spin twirl the fork in between his fingers. "Sure, she may be absent minded and we might have lost her a couple of times, but when there's a mission given to her there's none the more reliable." He finished with a proud huff. He looks back at Ritsuka who is looking at him with his mouth agape with worry.

"You lost her?" Ritsuka asks more worried than before.

"Oh, no no no no, it was nothing serious. We simply could not find her." He dismisses with a wave. "We still haven't figured it out how she did it, but still . . . Anyways, you said you had fainted?"

"Yes, yes I did, though I feel fine right now."

"I see, you do look fine, but you should come with me the the medical office just in case." He finished with a sigh, wistfully eating his cake as he guided Ritsuka through the hallway. "I see you're new here, what led you to this isolated place?"

"Nothing truly worth mentioning to be honest." Ritsuka muttered.

"What a coincidence," Roman chuckled. "You could say the same about me, but enough about that, how does it feel to not be able to go on the first mission?"

Ritsuka furrowed his brow. "Frustrating, I came all the way here but I'm not able to do anything."

Roman placed his hand on Ritsuka's shoulder. "Come now, it could be worst, you could have been kicked out of Chaldea, unlikely as it may be."

"Unlikely? I doubt that, I'm sure that if I mess up again the director will send me packing." He grimaced.

"The director, huh . . ."

"Yeah, when I awoke in the meeting room she was shooting daggers my way, if looks could kill let me tell you."

"Wait, you fainted right in the middle of the meeting?" The doctor asked, surprise apparent on his face.

"Yes, I did," Ritsuka sighed. "I sure started off on the wrong foot with her, that must be why she isn't letting me on the mission. Well, I haven't tried to convince her yet to let me in on it, of course I'll try, but I don't like my chances, after all she seems to dislike me already." Ritsuka gave a halfhearted chuckle.

"Hmnm, I don't think that's it, you see the dire-" Roman stopped in the middle of the sentence to look around the hallway. He looked at one of the door plates and sighed. "Erm, we might have passed the medical office on the way here . . . So I'm afraid we have to go back. Sorry."

Ritsuka raised his eyebrows in surprise. When he saw the doctor talk and walk - and eating cake - with complete casualness, he didn't think that he'd forget where the medical office was, though it could be just a one time thing so he shaked off the thought of him being an easily distracted individual.

They made their way back and after a bit they found the medical office which they entered. Roman instructed Ritsuka to sit on the bed as he laid down his plate of cake and grabbed one of the thermometers. He handed the thermometer to Ritsuka who placed under his armpit before Roman could say otherwise.

"You could at least let me tell you where to put the thermometer." Roman said with a downcast look.

"Oh, I'm sorry, please go on." Ritsuka said as he took out the thermometer.

"No," Roman waved it off with a sigh. "It's fine, just put it back."

"If you say so." Ritsuka muttered, complying to Roman's request. And after a few minutes of silence he asked; "But enough about that, you were saying something about the director before, do you mind continuing?"

"Not at all, but before that, could you hand me the thermometer?"

Ritsuka complied and Roman looked over at the thermometer as he walked over to a cupboard. He took out a thermos and a cup, filled the cup and took it over towards Ritsuka.

"Here, drink this," He handed over the cup to Ritsuka who began drinking it. Roman retrieved his cake and leaned back on a chair. "Well, as I was saying, I don't think the director hates you, or anyone, for that matter . . . Ok, maybe some people, but that's beside the point."

Ritsuka raised one eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe."

Roman chuckled. "Yeah, I can see why you'd say that, believe me I thought the same thing for months after I first started here. But," Roman raised his fork to accentuate his point. "I was wrong. You see, she is indeed a very angry person, oh man do I know that, but she is not angry at you, or others for that matter."

"I don't follow."

"Understandable." Roman went back to savoring his cake. "Well, Olga, the director, wasn't originally meant to be the director. Her father, the previous director, Maridsbury Animusphere, was the one who made all this possible." Roman spun on his chair pointing at everything while in the spin. "Sadly he passed away before he could see Chaldea's mission be completed and before he was able to choose the next director. And you know how the mage's society is very aristocratic with family lineage meaning just about everything. Well, that meant that Olga was thrust into the directors position."

"But couldn't she have just said no? I mean, they can't force her to be the director . . . Can they?"

"No, not really. But the thing is she took the spot voluntarily, even though she was and still is relatively young. Late twenties, early thirties, give or take." Roman put down his finished plate on a desk and continued. "Anyways, she wanted to finish her father's work and took the mantle of director herself. Needless to say, it didn't go as planned.

"She wasn't originally an angry person, she was actually quite sweet. I was able to meet her back in London in a time long past when I was studying magecraft at the clocktower, and so you must imagine my shock when the sweet and witty Olga went and became director of Chaldea. I was already planning on coming here but you could say that gave me a helpful push, after all I was still studying and she went on to become a director. Funny, really." Roman chuckled. "Anyways, when I arrived she was no longer the Olga I knew. As you may have noticed she was very angry a lot of the time. It was only after I was able to become head of the medical staff that I understood her better."

"Wait, wait wait wait. _You_ are the head of the medical staff?" Ritsuka asked bewildered.

Roman looked at him, his pride somewhat hurt. "Yes, yes I am. I know I am still young, twentynine years old and twenty three months if you must know, and that I don't look like head medic material, but still."

"Nononono," Ritsuka backtracked. "I was just surprised is all, I didn't think that such a nice person was the head of the medical office. I was expecting a stuffy brick faced old man. It's actually better that you are the head, you feel very human, so you are easy to talk to."

Roman looked at Ritsuka with an expression of surprise which then broke into a slight empty chuckle. "I feel human, huh." He then muttered not expecting Ritsuka to hear. "I guess I'm making progress, even if _I_ don't feel it."

Roman slapped his cheeks and he went back to his cheery self. "No matter. As I was saying, it was after I became head of the medical staff that I understood Olga more. She isn't angry at others, she is angry at herself. She went in to become the director and it was too much for her, any other person would have quit, but she didn't, she thought she owed it to her father to succeed in his stead." Roman gave a hollow chuckle. "She had always been a perfectionist, so when this didn't go as planned she was very close to snapping. And yet she kept on working on bettering herself and Chaldea as a whole. She became better at it overtime, now she is what I'd call a good director in a technical way."

"Technical way?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yes, it could be phrased better, let me elaborate; Olga is a good director, she goes above and beyond on her work, she wants to make sure everything works out perfectly, which of course is impossible, but she still tries. The problem is that she doesn't care about herself. To achieve that level of efficiency in a short time she has disregarded her physical and mental health. When something doesn't go according to plan she blames herself solely for it and beats herself up for it. Not to mention you basically have to force her to accept help from others. Well, she became more stressed and irritable as time went on and her hold on the anger became harder for her to handle so she ended up in a neverending state of anger, lashing out to others and then beating herself up for it later." Roman sighed. "It's quite a vicious cycle."

Ritsuka could sympathise with Olga, he could see a lot of his beliefs in her and felt pity for her. He then remembered what happened at the meeting. "Doesn't that mean that when I fainted she got angry at herself for it?"

Roman looked at Ritsuka contemplatively. "Don't you worry about that. You don't have to beat yourself up for her stubbornness."

_Why would she do that? She should know that it was out of her control to account for my fainting. It was entirely my fault for letting myself think I would be able to push through it!_

"Aaaaaand you're beating yourself up for it." Roman sighed, scratching his hair. "Listen, if you want to help her, talk to her, that is all the advice I can give you. Though, as I said before, she rarely takes help from others, keep that in mind."

Ritsuka looked up at Roman. "Is there a reason you know all this."

"Well, I am one of those rare cases of people who Olga asks for help." Roman said proudly, but his proud smirk broke with a sigh. "Well, the one time she did ask for my help might have been because I caught her at a bad time."

Ritsuka chuckled lowly. "For her to be so dedicated her father must have been an incredible person."

"Oh man is that an understatement." Roman smiled. Before he could continue he was interrupted by a call from his bracelet. "Sorry, let me take this." Roman went out of the room but came back in not long after.

"Was it anything important?" Ritsuka asked.

"No, it was just Lev being overly cautious about everything again. He wants me down there in a few minutes but I don't think they'll mind if I'm a little late." He said in a carefree tone. "Anyways, back to Olga's father, Maridsbury animusphere. He actually was the one who constructed the rayshift summoning system, an outstanding feat. That along with the atlas academy providing the spiritron calculation engine and professor Lev's shiva, the telescope that lets us see in the near future allowing us to observe chaldeas, we are able to complete our mission here at this observatory atop the mountain." Roman gave a short laugh. "So many people have worked in this, it's amazing."

Ritsuka, not knowing what half of those words meant decided to guide the conversation in another direction. "So professor Lev did something that important? He told me was but a simple engineer."

Roman chuckled. "A mere engineer? How humble of him."

They continued to exchange thoughts and stories for a while until suddenly the room turned dark.

"A power outage?" Ritsuka wondered.

"This place? Chaldeas has never had a power outage." Roman said in a worried tone.

"Emergency alert. Emergency alert." A robotic voice spoke through the speakers As the lights turned red. "Fires have broken out in the central fire plant and central control room."

"D-Did she say fires?" Roman asked no one.

"The central division bulkhead will close in four minutes, all personnel please evacuate-" The voice went on.

"What the . . ." Roman dashed out of the room, Ritsuka hot on his heels, alarms blaring all throughout the reddened hallway "Ritsuka, go to the bunker at the end of this hallway, there you'll find help."

Before Roman could begin his sprint he was stopped by Ritsuka. "Mash is where the fires are," Ritsuka demanded, worry tinting his voice. "Along with everyone else, I can't do nothing about it."

Seeing how resolute Ritsuka was Roman relented. "Fine, I'll head to the control room so follow me."

They both began sprinting down the once clear white hallways now only visible due to Roman's flashlight lighting the way. The constant sound of the alarms blaring through every corner of Chaldea only served to worry Ritsuka as he thought back to all the people that were in the meeting room and therefore the central control room. As they ran Ritsuka began feeling nauseous all over again, it was not like when he fainted, this time he would be able to push through it. He willed down the nausea and continued running behind Roman, though he could feel his speed slipping.

They dashed down the stairs in order to reach the lower levels were the mission was to take place. Going down the stairs made them slow down, precious time lost for Ritsuka but it also allowed him to catch up to Roman who also had to slow down. As they almost made it down the flight of stairs a quake occurred accompanied by the sound of an explosion. The quake caused them to lose their balance almost making them fall down the stairs.

With the all the worst possible outcomes flashing through Ritsuka's head he dashed down the stairs and out into a new hallway. He realized he didn't know where to go so he waited for Roman to come out, it only took a few seconds but for Ritsuka it was a lifetime. He followed Roman through the hallway which now had cracks and smoke filling the ceiling.

They made it to the central control room. Ritsuka was speechless.

They saw large pieces of the ceiling that had fallen down on the ground appear like pillars, the whole room glowed red as a giant sphere held inside a contraption at the end of the room radiated scarlet. The fires sprouting everywhere made this place feel like hell. There was no sound but that of collapsing rubble and the flickering of the fires.

"It can't be, the only thing standing is Chaldeas." Roman muttered, referring to the large scarlet sphere at the end of the area.

"Power output units confirmed to not have enough power generation." The mechanical voice said through the speakers.

"Not good." Roman looked up at the control room on the floor above, it was completely dark.

"Unable to switch to switch to reserve power. Personnel, please manually switch to reserve."

"Damn," Roman muttered. "Ritsuka, I'll head over to the underground power plant to fix this. I can't let the light of Chaldea go out." He spoke while running out the entrance stopping to look back at Ritsuka. "You need to get out of here now, it's useless to look for anyone in there." And with that he left as quickly as he could down the reddened hallways.

Ritsuka didn't even consider following Roman's orders. He dashed through the flame covered area, shouting for anyone, anything to avail. Whenever he thought he found something it turned out to be more rubble. He felt himself sinking down a dark hellhole of despair as he found no one, no matter how far he went all he found was rubble. He began breathing heavily, coughing roughly as his throat begged for water, but he wouldn't, couldn't, leave, not when there were still people to be saved. He continued to look at the pit of hell, the dark void in his chest making it hard for him to breath or think straight, but upon noticing a body a surge of relief tore through him.

_This time I'll save them, I can't let anyone else be killed, not again, not ever._

He sprinted as fast as he could, tripping among the rubble until he finally made it to the young man. He held his hand and began telling all would be okay now that he was here.

"C'mon," Ritsuka spoke with a quivering voice. "Everything will be alright. We need to get you out of here so that I can search for more survivors, all you need to do is stand up." He said. "You don't happen to know if anyone else is around, do you? . . . B-But enough about that, we just need to get you out of here so stand up . . . Please, just stand up." He pleaded, his eyes red from the smoke and pain and anguish. "Just . . . Just stand up . . . STAND UP DAMMIT." He cried out, but he knew he was deluding himself, the man was long gone, and there was nothing he could do, absolutely nothing. He was but a useless nothing, not capable of saving anyone, not even one out of the many people there were.

He then heard a shout. He didn't know what or who it was but he had heard something. He ran up the rubble, the stones under his hands burning him as he climbed and once he made it through he broke.

There laid Mash, staring at up at him still alive, though who knew for how long. He felt tears well up in his eyes as he slid down the rubble. He dashed through the distance between him and Mash and tried pulling up the piece of the ceiling that was crushing her from the waist down.

"Ritsuka, you do know that is useless." Mash said matter of factly.

"I still have to try!" Ritsuka cried with all his might, tears streaming down his face, his hands burning under the heat of the ceiling fragment, his body yelling at him in agonizing pain, begging him to stop

"Ritsuka, why don't you sit down." Mash said.

Ritsuka stared at her with undisguised anguish. "Don't you feel anything? Any pain? Why didn't you shout before? Someone could have helped you." Ritsuka dropped to his knees pleading for an answer.

Mash sighed. "Yes, I do feel a lot of pain, though by now its feeling more numb than before, and I did shout before but since no one answered I assumed everyone was dead and therefore there was no point in continu-" Mash gasped for breath as her face contorted under the weight of the slab crushing her.

"You are in pain." Ritsuka stated, staring right at her.

"I won't argue that point, though there is no reason to- wait, what are you doing?" Mash asked as Ritsuka once again tried to lift the slab to no avail. "You know it's useless, right? It's far too much weight. Not even the strongest person in Chaldea would be able to lift this, and your body certainly is't the strongest, so by doing this you are putting your body through unnecessary pain, so why do it?"

"Because you are in much more pain than I am." Ritsuka said through laboured breaths. "And if I am able to lift this even just a bit you might be able to . . ." Ritsuka breathed in as he kept using all the strength he could muster. "You might be able to slip by underneath."

"Even so," Mash was now beginning to raise her voice." During this time you might have been able to save someone else. But here you are trying to lift a piece of the ceiling." As Ritsuka made apparent no intent of stopping she continued, her voice becoming more and more upset. "Don't you get it, it's pointless, there is no way for you to save me from this! There is no way to do this! You might have saved someone else by now. Don't you care about them? You certainly sounded like you did back when you were yelling at that corpse over the rubble."

"SHUT UP." Ritsuka commanded, his hands now numb under the stress and heat. "I will save those in front of me, because if I don't save them who will?"

"But then who will save the others?" Mash rebutted. Ritsuka gritted his teeth and remained silent, he could not answer her question. "And even if you could lift this it's not like I'd live anyways."

"Don't say that." Ritsuka commanded in a low voice. "Don't you dare say that." He tried once again to pull up the slab but he felt nauseous again, the room started spinning and he lost all the strength he had in his body, falling down to the ground. He tried moving but all he could manage was moving his hand slightly. "DAMMIT."

There was silence between the two of them. In the background the automated computer began speaking again about re establishing contact with a suitable candidate but that was all Ritsuka was able to get from it.

"You are an idiot, Ritsuka." Mash said.

"I know." Ritsuka admitted. He wanted to stand up and help Mash but he couldn't move, and even if he could he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything with his weak body. He laid there, staring at ceiling, suffering from his body and the gaping void inside his chest. He had failed.

"But," Mash began, now more relaxed since Ritsuka was lying on the floor rather than doing something worthless. "Even if you have wasted your life in this insane stunt," Ritsuka didn't have the energy to argue, he was too tired, he just wanted to close his eyes. "I'll have to say this was a very interesting time, and I for some reason feel better now. That is on an emotional level, because physically I wouldn't give myself another minute . . . Ritsuka?" Mash looked over at him and he laid there with his eyes closed, sleeping, even then he looked distressed. "I wonder what his reason behind this was." Mash closed her eyes and waited for all to run its course.

* * *

**A/N: We meet again. Now, can you spot the difference between this and the game? Yes? Well good job, expect more of that. On another note, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I think it went a tad too quick - Though 8k words is still quite a lot - with the character interactions and inner thoughts not being as fleshed out as they could've been, but I think it went better with the second chapter which is finished. Oh? You want to read it? No? Well you wouldn't have anyways. There is a reason behind my madness you see. Even though I have finished the second chapter I will upload it next week, probably, that way you won't get used to reading this fanfic a couple days a time since I am lazy and writing takes time, oh how it takes time. I planned the prologue - singularity F in its entirety - to be just one chapter, but oh boy was I wrong. I wrote most of it by memory and then I remembered that there was an anime of the singularity, so I skimmed through it. It was so boring, holy heck. I had already written over half of the singularity by then so when they introduced stuff I really couldn't be bothered to cram it in, the second chapter is already long enough, that's why you might notice somethings are not how you remember.**

**Writing the first singularity made me think. It's going to be a long time until I reach ****Babylonia. Just think, they're not even in the singularity yet and its been 8k words. The singularity itself is much more than that. And this singularity was supposed to be the short one. Oh, my life will end before I even finish writing E Pluribus Unum.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And here it is, just barely at the end of Sunday, at least that's the time here. **

**So . . . I should've uploaded this sooner in the week, maybe saturday, it was pretty much finished, but what can I say, I'm lazy. Well, life's been fun, lot of assigments, lots of upcoming tests, riveting. If I could I'd spend the whole day lazing about and get to my writing at night when I'm most incentivized to write. That's what I did during vacations, at least near the end of it. I stayed up late writing all the way into the morning but I can't very well do that now that I'm back at school. Fun. **

**On other news, the Shinjuku chapter is pretty fun. I like the new servants and the story so far, but there is one thing bugging me. Shinjuku Salter when DW? *_Sigh*_ Even if they do add her I'll still have to wait 2 years for it. So very sad.**

**Anywho, here's the chapter, I don't really have anything else to say appart from this being the longest I've ever written. Seriously, it's like 13k words.**

* * *

Ritsuka opened his eyes and saw a cloudy red sky, a putrid stench filling the air and a constant heat of many fires burning decayed buildings. He tried to stand but his body burned in pain at the most minor of exertions. He gasped for air as even by standing still he felt the burning sensation cursing through his body. Swallowing in the pain Ritsuka tried to stand by pushing himself up with his hands, but as he put pressure on his palm it felt as it was being pierced by scorching needless. He cried out in pain as he tried to grasp his wounded hand with the other only for it to also make him cry out.

He laid there shaking under the intense pain. He looked at his hands and they were burned and scarred. He could see his burnt hand painted painted dark red as his skin was burnt off, showing pieces of flesh on most of his hand. The smell of burnt his burnt flesh made him nauseous as felt his consciousness slipping. But, upon remembering the reason for the state of his hands he swallowed back the rising feeling in his throat and pushed began pushing himself up with his shoulders. The pain he felt was as if he were being pierced by many spears, but the thought of Mash and all the others pushed him to power through it.

Once he was finally able to stand he began to catch his breath. He took in the sight that surrounded him. It was the remnants of a city, one that is now crumbling, filled with fire and a constant stench permeating the air. It certainly wasn't Chaldea, so how did he get here?

Before he could ponder the question for too long he spotted shining rays in the sky, almost like red shooting stars. In this desolate cityscape it certainly seemed to be the only beautiful thing present. It gave him a moment's peace and helped steel his resolve. He stood up straight, biting back the pain and stared back at the shooting stars, stars that seemed to be heading closer in his direction. They were certainly smaller than what an actual shooting star would be but the way it was heading in his direction made him step back. Once he had fully realized that they were coming straight towards him he tried to dash, but an intense pain coursed through his body making him fall down. He stared up at the incoming beam like object heading straight towards him.

He would not allow himself to fall here. He began casting a spell under his breath and was ready to cast it when an armored knight dashed in front of him, holding a large cross like shield. The knight brought the shield forwards and steadied himself as the projectiles closed in.

Once they made impact there was a thunderous clash of steel against steel and of explosions going off around them. Ritsuka, petrified in fear, protected himself with his arms around him. Time seemed to slow as the clanging and explosion swallowed everything around him, but he was still alive, the knight stood strong against the barrage, even through all the dust covering the air he could see him standing steadfast, protecting him. Him.

The barrage was over and Ritsuka felt as if his chest was afire. He breathed in and out extremely quickly and the world seem to blur around him. But a sharp pain ran across his cheek snapped him somewhat back in control. He stared back at the fully armored knight grabbing him by the collar of his chaldean uniform, his retracting back to his side after the slap. He stood up and gave a sigh. Ritsuka scanned the knight; he was wearing black armour from head to toe with streaks of purple here and there and a helmet with a downed visor.

The knight looked up at the sky from where the projectiles fell. "That was a close call, we were lucky it fired a single volley, otherwise we wouldn't be standing." The knight said with a familiar feminine voice.

Ritsuka was speechless, his mind racing trying to regain its wits. "That was a single volley? It sure felt much longer . . . Wait, Mash, is that you?"

Mash looked down at Ritsuka and nodded, lifting up her visor. Ritsuka couldn't believe as he stared into her violet eyes. She was alive. After all that she was still alive.

Ritsuka chuckled, feeling tears well up in his eyes. "You are alive . . . You lived." He wiped his eyes and smiled. Though that smile quickly turned into a grimace as he thought of all those he hadn't been able to save. All their hopes and dreams gone, and he had let it happen.

"Yes, I am alive, but we won't be if we idle here any longer." She went to retrieve the large shield, then looked at Ritsuka from top to bottom, and crouched. "Get on." She motioned him to get on her back.

"What are you saying, I can still move." Ritsuka stood, his limbs still burning at any exertion done but not letting any of it show on his face.

"You are not fooling anyone. Stop being so prideful and get on." She demanded.

"There is no need." He said as he tried to slide down their small island and down to the small crater. "I am more than capable of walking."

"If that's how it's going to be." Mash muttered as she strapped her shield to her back and caught up to Ritsuka, grabbing him bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?" Ritsuka asked, shock apparent in his voice, trying to get off her grip.

"Don't bother, you stand no chance against my strength." Ritsuka was surprised at how true it was, he couldn't make her budge in the slightest. Mash didn't appear to have been that strong back at Chaldea due to her short stature and slender build and yet she had no trouble carrying him, a shield taller than her, and a full set of armor. "Now stop struggling or you might fall."

"Even so, let me down or I'll keep strugAAAAAAAHHHHHH" He was cut short from finishing his sentence as Mash jumped out of the crater with little problem and began sprinting faster than any human should be able to while carrying all the weight.

"Master, please stop screaming. I'll make to not drop you so you have nothing to fear." Mash said calmly as she scanned the passing areas.

Ritsuka bit his lip and remained as still as he could so as to not fall. It's not that she did not trust Mash, but that everything was happening too fast and he couldn't process all that was happening; being in a decaying city when he should be at Chaldea, being shot at with projectiles, Mash being alive and inhumanly strong and fast, nothing made sense, especially her referring to him as master.

Stopping his train of thought was Mash's sudden leap into the air. Ritsuka was shocked at how high she had been able to jump, she had no trouble reaching the second story of one of the many apartment complex's. This had gone beyond the realm of simple magic, even if she had use strengthening magic on her body she should still not be accomplish all that she was doing. Even stranger was the magic she was emanating was from her entire being, and it certainly was not any kind of magic he knew of.

"Ritsuka, stay here and don't move, I'll be back." She told Ritsuka as she left him on the floor, and before he could respond she left the building at incredible speeds.

He was stupefied. He sat there not knowing what to do. Mash had gone out there into that hellhole and he was sitting here doing nothing. He tried to clench his fists but was unable to. He stared at his palms, seeing how the skin was burnt off and pieces of flesh showed themselves. Even so he could not let Mash go off on her own, if anything were to happen to her when he could've done something he would not forgive himself. He stood up but fell down to one knee, gasping for air as his body felt as it was being pierced by burning needles, but he wouldn't let this stop him. He bit his lip, drawing blood, and walked towards the door out of the room. It was a standard apartment but for the fact that it in tatters. Ritsuka couldn't help but feel burdened by the thought of those who had lived here and what ill fate befell upon them.

He reached for the doorknob, and gave a muffled scream as he bit further into his lip. The door now opened he stalked down the hallway towards the staircase and upon reaching it he cursed under his breath. Thankfully he just had to go down a single flight of stairs as he was on the second floor. He reached the lobby and slowly made his way to the exit. The entrance doors were knocked down so he just stepped over the as he reached the outside.

The city was still in flames and he still couldn't tell right from left in this place.

"Ritsuka, I told you to wait inside." Ritsuka sighed in relief as he recognized Mash's voice.

_She's still alive._

Though the muttering from a second voice caused him to do a double take.

"God Damn it, it just had to be him."

Ritsuka turned to face the voices and couldn't mask the surprise in his voice. "Director? What are you doing here?"

The director sighed. "I was rayshifted here, I had thought I was the only one but someone proved me otherwise." She pointed at Mash. "How did _this_ happen anyways?"

"Director, when the explosion occurred I got very close to dying," The director's face hardened as Mash continued. "But near the end a heroic spirit came to me and gave me an offer, that if I wanted to live I would merge with him and become a demi-servant."

"I see . . ." She said, some sadness present in her voice. "Then he is your master?"

"Affirmative."

The director gave a dry chuckle. "So, Ritsuka is the master, huh . . . Not much we can do about it now. Both of you, inside the building. Mash, carry Ritsuka inside, I can tell his body is about to give."

"N-No," Ritsuka cut in. "I am fine, I can rest as we walk, as it is nothing major, afte-" Ritsuka lost all the air in his lungs as the director punched him in the gut, short and quick gasps making it clear that it had hurt.

"You are not fine. Mash, get him inside." And the director went into the building.

Mash laid the cringing Ritsuka down on one of the only servisable sofas of the first floor. THe director heading further in into the complex to find any signs as to what had happened.

"Master, this would not have happened had you simply rested as I told you. If you keep acting the way you have you will die." Ritsuka frowned at the words. "It is clear to me that you want to help people, and I see that you are really dedicated to it to, but being dedicated does not mean you are doing anything of worth. Your naive attitude certainly doesn't help, you tried saving me, a clear lost cause when you could have saved others who are now dead," Ritsuka clenched his fists as she kept on. "What good did that accomplish? Right now you are but an idiot who can't see the obvious. Your so called attempts at helping haven't actually done anything, you have only managed to hurt yourself instead of doing anything meaningful for others."

Ritsuka snapped. "Mash, don't you get it?! There have been people have been dying left and right this past few hours, who knows how many of them had people waiting for them back at their homes." He yelled. "I was there and so I had to help, it doesn't matter how beat up my body ends up I have to do something otherwise they might perish without anyone having tried to have saved them. Even if I may hurt my body as long as I am able to save someone else it shouldn't matter!"

"You bumbling idiot!" Mash couldn't understand the thought process of such a person. "Don't you get it? You are of no use as you are. You are weak and beat up. It doesn't help anyone to have you trotting along as if you can do something when you clearly can't."

"We won't know unless I try."

"NO. No you can't. You should know this, it's your body. What good would it do to your body to save someone who will die even if you save them from their situation? What good will it do to you and others so save them instead of someone who has a better chance?!"

"Who are you to decide who would be able to live and who wouldn't?"

"It is not me but logic, if he is to die you are better saving your strength and saving someone worthwhile instead!"

"What is going on?" The director commanded as she wiped the sweat of her forehead from entering the room.

Mash clenched her mouth. "Nothing, nothing at all. "She picked up her shield and walked made her way outside. "I will keep watch in case any enemies appear."

"Alright, but stay near the premises, I don't want any of us to deal with anything alone." As she watched Mash leap off she directed herself at Ritsuka. "Care to explain what you were talking about? I have never seen her so aggravated before."

"It's . . . It's nothing." He sighed, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"Usually I wouldn't let this go so easily but due to the circumstances I'm willing to this time."

"Thank you."

"Anyways, I checked over some of this place and it's empty. No signs of life anywhere." The director frowned. "This certainly is strange, but, now that I've made sure nothing would interrupt us, I'll need you to take off your shirt."

Ritsuka stared at the director blank faced before his face blushed and began stuttering nonsense.

"I don't know why I expected anything else." The director stated unamused. "I want to look over you body for wounds so that I can heal them."

Ritsuka muttered some "yeahs" and "Of courses" as he composed himself.

"Director, really there is no ne-"

"Shut up and take it off." She said with such a commanding voice that Ritsuka didn't feel himself able to go against her orders.

As he laid on the sofa he, tried as he might to not to, squirm in pain as the director applied pressure to different places. She spoke as she worked.

"So tell me, what did you say to Mash to anger her so? It is the first time I've ever seen her so angry. Actually it might be the first time I've seen her with an emotion different to indifference, so congratulations on that front."

"Really it was noth-" His sentence cut short by a short yelp of pain. "A-As I was saying, it was nothing, just some . . . differing views on something."

"That so . . ." She remained unfazed as Ritsuka tried as he might could not hide his pain as she kept applying pressure.. "Good thing I always carry gems with me." She pulled out some blueish green gems which Ritsuka recognized as those used for healing, but before he could speak up against using them she made him once again try to stop himself from crying out in pain.

The room glowed a faint green as the gems placed around his body shone. He could feel his body easing off the pain. It had not been the first time he had been forced to be healed with magic but it usually took longer for the effects to be apparent, now it hadn't even been a minute and he was feeling as if he could stand up and go jogging.

"It's done." The director said, picking up the now dull looking gems from Ritsuka's body. "Stand up slowly and try to move."

Ritsuka, still amazed at the directors skill in magic, sat there on the sofa simply looking at his clenching and unclenching hands, something that would have made him gasp in pain a mere minutes ago.

"I don't know what you touched, Rituska, but it will sure leave a scar." Ritsuka looked at his hands and they did in fact have some scarring on the palms. "You had some second degree burns there, not to talk about all the strained muscle tissue, weak lungs, among other things. Whatever you did before, don't do it again, and that's an order."

Ritsuka gave no response to said command, he just stood up and stretched. He was surprised at how well his body was, he couldn't feel anything wrong with it, even if he knew the director was a skilled magician he didn't know her skills applied also to the medical field since most magicians opt to learn about combat spells, merely learning the basics healing.

While stretching he noticed that on the backside of his right hand he had a strange red marking which he hadn't seen before. He scratched it to see whether it could be peeled off but no, it seemed to be etched into his skin, not unlike a tattoo.

"Those are command seals." The director spoke up, making herself comfortable on the sofa Ritsuka laid on before. "They show that you are a master and gives you three commands with which your servant will do whatever you ask of them when used."

"Master?"

"Yes, I realize you missed the meeting so I will do my best to summarize to you that information." She pointed out the building towards where Mash went. "Your servant is Mash. How she became it I'm still trying to understand it but you are her master and that's that. What that means for you is that you will be supplying her with mana while she fights other servants."

"Fight?" He asked with concern. "You mean she'll have to fight?"

The director sighed. "Yes . . . Though it wasn't supposed to turn out this way. She was never supposed to be the servant, you see. But what can you do. This world never goes how you want it to . . . Should've learned that a long time ago."

"If she wasn't meant to fight, then, could she not fight and have someone else do it?"

The director looked at Ritsuka with a sad smile. "You think _you'll_ be able to fight servants?"

Ritsuka thought back to when he woke up, to the barrage of projectiles raining around him and how he would've died had Mash not stepped in. He shivered.

"I would. Will." He finally answered, resolve clear in his voice.

The director sighed. "You idiot!" She stood up and slapped him across the face. "You can't think like that, you need to think about what you can do and not what you can't. You can't fight other servants so do what you can."

Ritsuka touched his stinging cheek and for a moment silence reigned over the floor. "No . . . Even if I can't I should still try, otherwise others may suffer for it!" He remained steadfast on his beliefs and the director could see just how futile this was.

"Try, huh." She sat back down and almost as if something snapped she laughed. "You do know that is easier said than done, right?" She wiped a tear from her eye.

Ritsuka eyed her curiously. "Yes."

"Do you know how hard I have tried for this past couple of years? The answer is a lot. I've spent countless hours studying, working, learning, and teaching to make Chaldea come to where it is today." She gave a soulless laugh. "But just trying isn't enough unless you succeed."

"That is not true, and to succeed I will simply have to try harder."

"Look at this mess." She showed off the broken interior of the building with broken smile. "Are you saying this happened because I didn't try hard enough?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"Chaldea is in chaos," She cried. "The mission is a goddamn failure. Are you saying had I tried harder I would have succeeded? Do you think _you_ could have succeeded?" She spoke with venom dripping from her voice, demanding an answer from him and as she didn't receive any from the shocked youth she clenched her fists. "While we are in the topic of trying. Tell me, honestly, how many of the other masters survived?"

The question caught Ritsuka off guard. "O-Other masters?"

She laughed. "Yes, you know, all the others who were at the meeting. How many of them survived? How many were you able to save?"

She stared at Ritsuka who even though was able to move his mouth no sound came out. Her eyes which were filled with rage and venom a few seconds ago now were clouded, not giving any hint of any of the passion that was there before. She put her shaking hand to her face. "So none, huh. No one . . ."

"No." Ritsuka spoke, surprising not only the director but himself. He did not know what to say but he couldn't stop. But before being able to continue something flew into the apartment crashing through the walls. Both just stood there, shocked at what had happened.

Ritsuka felt the same strange magical energy emanating from the hole where the projectile went through as when he did when he was with Mash.

Ritsuka and the director dashed, almost in perfect sink, towards the pile of rubble. When they got there they saw the large shield Mash carried underneath some rubble. Before they could begin doing anything Mash stood up from underneath the shield, clad in her black armor and helm.

"There's an enemy servant coming." She answered as if she hadn't just been blasted into the wall.

"A servant?" Asked Ritsuka. "W-Well, don't worry, just recoup your strength while I hold them off."

Before Mash could talk back to Ritsuka the director was already lashing at him.

"You buffoon. Do you really think us two will be able to defeat a servant?" The director aimed towards where Mash was sent flying from. In the distance a figure could be seen walking towards them, emanating a similar magical energy as Mash. "At least Mash will have to act as a shield for us while we attack."

"But-"

"No buts, and that's an order." The director commanded in a tone that didn't allow backtalk.

Ritsuka scanned Mash from top to bottom but all he could see was her armor which had some scratches and dirt here there. He then reluctantly got next to the director while letting Mash be at the front.

The director gave some gems to Ritsuka in case he started to get in trouble and normal spells weren't sufficient. Before he could say against receiving them the director's eyes told him that it would be no use to try to give them back. Sighing, he put them in his pocket.

The servant made it to the entrance of the building and stopped right before entering. The servant was a tall woman wearing a dark cloak with black clothes underneath, with long purple hair and a large scythe.

"So there's still a master here, huh." She said. "I have to say I didn't expect that, but that is in fact good news as it allows me to have some fun slaughtering someone instead of chasing that pesky caster."

"Who are you and what happened here?" The director asked.

The servant looked taken aback by the question, and after a few seconds she erupted into bombardeos laughter. She wiped a tear from her and spoke.

"Do you really think you are in any place to ask questions? And even if I did tell you what good would it do? You'll be dead soon enough." She then took a pensative stance. "Though you did give me a pretty good laugh. Man, wouldn't you like to know how long it has been since my last. So, I suppose I can let _you_ live a little longer." She pointed at the director. "Rejoice, you'll be able to see how your friends die one after the other, isn't that great?"

"No, I have to say it isn't." The director sighed. "Mash, Ritsuka, get ready."

"Oh, we're starting?" She gave a sinister smile. "I do wonder how long that shield of yours will protect you. How about we test that out."

The servant went from standing to full sprint, appearing in front of Mash almost in the blink of an eye. She spun her whole body in the air and gave a strong kick at the shield Mash held. She was pushed a couple meters back but managed to keep her footing. Ritsuka and the director fired magic projectiles at the servant but she deflected them with the scythe while dashing at Ritsuka. She swung her scythe and just before it could cut Ritsuka Mash blocked it with the shield, pushing the servant back.

The servant was angered as she couldn't break past the shield. She striked faster and stranger, but the size of the shield allowed Mash to use it effectively despite the inexperienced. While the servant focused on Mash the director spoke an incantation and fired a sphere of concentrated mana at the servant. Mash stepped back as it collided with the servant, causing a small explosion, bringing up a thin layer of dust.

As the dust cleared the servant had her arms bare, the sleeves now in tatters, and her arms sporting bruises and burns.

"I was going to leave you for the end, you know." She said with venom, her eyes filled with rage. "But it appears you can't wait to die."

She jumped back and used a wall to boost herself straight at the director. The wall used collapsed under the strength of the boost, and Mash failed to get in her way as she made her way through the air straight at the director.

The servant prepared to swing her scythe and the director cast a round, magical shield with which she deftly used to redirect the strike, instead of blocking, straight towards another wall. She then flung a couple of gems towards were the servant landed and a large multicolored explosion filled the floor, forcing everyone to cover shield themselves with their arms.

Though that would have been enough to completely annihilate a normal person, there was still magical energy being emitted from the rubble. The director took no time in filling it back with spells and incantations. Fire, ice, spheres of mana, among others filled the room as the director gave an onslaught of spells towards where the energy source emanated and didn't stop even after it stopped giving off energy.

"Lady, you can stop now, she's gone." This new voice pulled the director and the others from where the servant was towards the source of said voice. It was a mad who seemed to be in his late twenties with long blue hair, wearing a light blue outfit that gave off the vibe of him being a shaman. He was leaning forward against his wooden staff staring at the group with a lazy expression.

The director spent no time aiming down the new visitor and demanding answers. "Who are you and what do you know?"

"Easy there lady, by now you're sure to have exhausted your mana so don't try blasting me, it'll only end bad for you." He said with a dismissive wave.

The director clicked her tongue and lowered her arm, Mash meanwhile took position in front of her in case anything awry happened. "You still haven't answered what I asked."

"Sheesh, calm down will ya?" He muttered. "I alway end up with demanding woman, what did I do deserve this?"

"I suppose you are caster, correct?"

"Aye, though you could always ask nicely."

While caster kept giving dismissive responses Ritsuka clenched his fists in anger, not at Caster nor at the servant that attacked them, but at himself. He had frozen up after she had targeted him and had accomplished nothing. Sure, the director had been able to defeat her, if Caster's word could be trusted, but she was now weak even if she tried to hide it. Her legs and hands were trembling and sweat was clearly visible streaming down her face. He was disgusted with his uselessness.

"Caster," Ritsuka walked past Mash to be in front of Caster. "Are you here to fight us?"

Caster stared curiously at Ritsuka. "What if I am?"

"Then you'll have to go through me."

Caster raised his eyebrows in surprise, then chuckled. "I've gotta hand it to you kid, you've got guts. But that'll only get you so far. Anyways, no, I am not here to fight you, I am here to petition your help."

"Explain." The director demanded.

Caster muttered something about women being so demanding and sighed. "Currently, as you might have noticed, this place is a mess. I wasn't like this originally, but it now, and I want to fix it. Problem is, I can't do it alone."

"What is the problem exactly."

"The holy grail, now not so holy, corrupted Saber, who then after defeating the other servants, me excluded, were also corrupted."

"So there are more corrupted servants?" Ritsuka asked.

"Yeah, just two though, I defeated most and you here were able to defeat lancer, congratulations by the way, not many humans can take on a servant." Caster gave the director a small applause.

"Then I assume one of the ones that are left is Saber." The director said.

"Bingo." Caster said. "The other one is archer. The problem is they spend a lot of time together and are never too far apart from one another. And with me being stuck in this class I can't very well take them both at once."

"Caster is not your most proficient class then?" The director asked.

Caster eyed her warily. " . . . No."

The director then snapped her fingers as if remembering something. "Ritsuka, you don't know what we're talking about do you?"

Caster, for the first time seemed to be taken aback and sputtered. "Wait. He doesn't know about servant classes?" He stared at Ritsuka slightly bewildered before coughing and returning to his more lazy expression. "No worries, it's fine. This can still work. Though he should be filled in, with him being a master and such."

"Right," The director said with a clap so as to bring attention to herself. "Mash, you go near the entrance to make sure no enemies get close." Mash nodded and walked over to the entrance were she stared off into the street.

"You sure are trusting, eh." Caster wondered.

"Shut it," She turned her back to Caster and made a quick show of some gems she held in her hand to Ritsuka without the servant noticing, telling Ritsuka to prepare some gems just in case without actually saying it. She then began explaining the basics while snapping at Caster whenever he made a snide remark.

Ritsuka was overwhelmed. Not by the information given but by the director herself. She was ready for whatever situation and with the information he got off Roman he knew she was one of the strongest mages he knew. But even then she had succumbed to pressure and snapped at him. He understood why she did but he would not back down on his stance, not now, not ever, but it gave him chills to think of how someone so strong could break like that, how she, after all the time working in Chaldea, still fail. It made him feel so small.

"Got it?" The director asked.

Ritsuka nodded. "Servants are manifestations of famous historical figures of the past, such as the knights of the round table to pharaos. There are seven classes of servants and each specialise in a field in particular. Caster can cast spells well, for example. They appear in the holy grail war in which they compete against each other in a fight to the death for the omnipotent wish granting device; the holy grail"

The director scratched the back of her neck. "I would've chosen different wordings but it seems you've gotten the basics."

"I do have a question though," Caster said. "We here in this holy grail war had all seven servants, and for the most part I didn't have any trouble identifying everyone's class." He then pointed at Mash who was still on lookout. "But I can't for the life of me tell you her class, if she even has one. Plus she gives off this weird mana, not like the average servant."

Ritsuka looked curious and looked over at the director for answers who simply sighed.

"Well, she's a special case. She isn't a full fledged servant, since she was just a normal girl until today." Caster raised an eyebrow and the director continued. "Due to some strenuous circumstances Mash Kyrielight had to form a pact with a heroic spirit which meant she absorbed his servant status, making her a demi-servant."

Caster massaged his forehead. "So the little lady isn't a full fledged servant. Does she at least know the name of the servant she aligned with." His eyes seemed pleading.

"That . . . I honestly don't know." The director said, surprising herself. She then called over to Mash to come over for a bit.

"What is it?" Mash asked.

"Straight to the point, huh." Caster said. "Anyways, we need to know if you have any recollection of the servant whose place your taking?"

"No."

Her answer was short but to the point, so much so that the trio didn't know what to say. The fact that Mash had no trouble telling them and that her expression remained ever so passive didn't help the matter, almost as if she didn't care.

"Erm, no recollection about your noble phantasm either, then?" Caster asked, clearly hoping that she'd say otherwise.

"None."

The trio looked at her for a bit before she excused herself and went back to her lookout.

"No noble phantasm . . ." Caster said with a chuckle. "I truly am the luckiest of all. The ace in the hole of every servant, their most powerful weapon and skill . . . And she doesn't know it." He hit himself in the head with his staff as he spoke.

"Caster, calm down." Ritsuka patted him on the shoulder. "I-I know it may not look good, but unless we try we won't know whether this mission will work or not, right?" He said in an attempt to cheer not only caster up, but himself too.

Caster looked at him and sighed. "Your right. It does us no good to just mope here. We have to fight them anyways so what does it matter to delay the inevitable." He then gave a proud smirk. "And even then, I am pretty skilled even in the form of a caster. Plus your friend here," He pointed at the director. "She's pretty strong. After all she was able to take down a servant mostly by herself. I had honestly expected to have to go in myself to save you three, but it appears I didn't."

The director had a proud smile grow on her face, even if she tried to hide it. "So, Caster. You said you expected to have to come in to save us, right?"

He looked at her curiously. "Yeah. Why?"

"Does that mean you were just looking on as we fought?" She asked in a not so serious tone.

" . . . Sorry about that." He said while avoiding her gaze.

"Wait," Ritsuka interrupted. "Does that mean you were waiting for a moment to come in and rescue us?" He asked with curiosity.

Caster now had his face turned away from them.

"Oh?" The director wondered. "Caster, did you perchance hope to make a _cool _entrance?"

Caster's ears were growing red, making it clear that that was his intention and that he was embarrassed at having it revealed.

Ritsuka seeing his distress tried to help him. "Hey, it's not bad wanting to be cool. We all want to be cool once in a while. I'm sure that being here all alone had you wanting some company and when you saw some other people you wanted to make a good first impression. I completely understand that, I too want to make good first impressions and look cool to other people. Director, aren't you the same?" He spoke with such sincerity and with an intent clear to helpful, but it only prompted Caster to redden some more and to hide his face in his hands at being pitied by someone much younger than him.

The director just smiled.

After Caster got over his embarrassment he gave the director some potions which he said would help her recover some mana and that by the time they get to Saber she would be fully charged. He then motioned them to follow him out the building, but before they made it out Ritsuka stopped the director while Caster went on exited.

The director's question about the other masters still hung over his mind, and he knew the way she acted before was due to the constant stress and that she must be ashamed of it now. He had to do something to help her but he didn't know how. Even now, after stopping her, he had no real clue what to say.

"Director." He began only to be interrupted.

"No, Ritsuka, whatever you were going to say don't worry about it. I'm sure you wanted to discuss something from before back when I . . . Let my emotions get the better of me, but I was the one at fault for lashing out at you." She said apologetically but still with the decisive tone she always had. "So don't feel as if you have to do anything regarding that . . . Just don't worry about it, I'm sure this mission will work out. "

Even as she tried to make Ritsuka feel better it only made him worry more. He had to help her he had to do something to ease her mind which was clearly in the brink of snapping even if she tried to hide it. All the tumultuous stress had caught up to her and to him it was clear.

"Director." He said with determination. "This mission _will _succeed. I know I may not be the strongest but I'll be sure to give it my all just as you have. And regarding your question, about how many others I was able to save, I saved plenty, but even then I don't know if everyone made it." He spoke unflinchingly, making the director's features soften and a small smile to creep upon her face.

"So they didn't all die." She muttered, joy clear in her voice. "Thank you, Ritsuka, but please don't try to make me feel better, it is my job as the director to guide you and help you, so let me be the one to worry, alright? You just focus on what's in front of you and I'll handle the rest"

Even if Ritsuka would have to be forced to do as she said he was overjoyed at having been able to help her, even if he had to lie to accomplish the result.

As they exited the building Mash joined them and all began following Caster as he led them through the ruined city.

"You do know what you did will end badly, right?" Mash told Ritsuka while they walked.

"W-What do you mean?" He asked, stealing glances at the pair in front to make sure they weren't listening. Thankfully they seemed to be arguing about something and were not paying attention to them.

"You lying to the director. It may have helped her enough right now to not affect her performance, but it's just a temporary measure." Mash stated.

"I-I know, but it helped her when she needed help." He tried to justify.

"Yes, but how much _help _do you think she's going to need once she figures out you lied to her and everyone isn't actually alive." She spoke in her usual cold, calculating tone.

"Then I'll help her again . . . I'm sure she'll understand and will come around." He said with optimism.

"Your optimism is bound to cause more trouble." She sighed. "I won't tell her that you lied to her because that would impact our chances of success right now but don't expect her to take the truth so lightly."

Ritsuka tried to keep troubling thoughts off his head. "Don't worry, this will . . . This will work out."

"I find that unlikely." She stated and moved up closer towards the other pair.

_I did the right thing. _He thought. _If I hadn't told her that she would be suffering, so what I did was good. I helped her. I did help her, even if Mash says otherwise . . . I will make this work out._

"Okay," Caster said, snapping Ritsuka out of his thoughts. "You guys see that cave up ahead."

"It's a little hard to miss, wouldn't you say?" The director asked.

"Yes." Mash answered.

Ritsuka looked at the cave. It was fairly large, enough for a two trucks to through it with little trouble, though not as large as the hill it made a hole through. They had made it to a forest, now that he realized.

"That's besides the point." Caster muttered while massaging his temple. "Anyways, miss magus, is your mana good to go?"

"Yes," She said with satisfaction. "Those potions of yours are highly effective. I would like to know how you made them."

"No can do." He said before turning back to the cave. "Here we'll split up."

"Excuse me?" The director asked in an offended tone.

"Yes, you remember how I said there were two servants left." Everyone nodded. "Well, we can't take both of them on. We'll die if we do. That's why I will go and defeat archer while you stall Saber. After enough time I'll have defeated Archer and I will join you to finally defeat Saber. Any questions."

Ritsuka raised his hand. "Didn't Saber defeat all the other servants?"

"Yes."

"Wouldn't that make him really strong?" He asked worriedly.

"Why yes." He stated. "But don't worry. Your the lady with the shield should be able to stall her attacks sufficiently until I get to you. Though you will have to support her with magecraft whenever you can, since she's still a novice at this heroic spirit business. Am I right?" He asked Mash.

"Yes." She answered.

"Can you at least inform us of who this servant is?" The director asked.

Caster winced somewhat at the question. "The servant Saber is a servant of grand acclaim, it'd be strange if any one person hadn't heard of her . . . Not only powerful but also damn stubborn, not to mention with enough charisma to have people wanting to follow her rule." He sighed.

"Sounds like you two have history." Ritsuka said.

"Aye," Caster muttered. "She's an interesting lady. Some may say her sword is more so. Said sword is known as Excalibur. I'm sure you've heard of it."

The trio was silent. The enemy who they would have to fight would be the legendary king Arthur, he whose many legends are still talked about even to this day.

They all had different reactions; Ritsuka was worrying even more about the upcoming fight, the director was expressing her agony over the situation through continued muttering of curses, and Mash seemed slightly disheartened, slightly.

"King Arthur is a woman?" Mash asked somewhat curious.

"Aye, honestly I too was surprised." Caster responded. "Not that I mind, she was a fine lady . . . Her corrupted version though, sheesh. No thanks."

"How did she have a son then?" Mash continued.

This made Caster frown. "I've honestly no clue. Maybe Gwynevere's a dude? I don't know." He shrugged. "Anyways, you'll be fine, you don't even have to defeat her, simply stall her. Plus you have a top tier magus on your team." He pointed at the director. "But I have been wondering. Lady, why weren't you chosen as a master? You are way above the average bozo, so why?"

"T-That is none of your business." She said in a tone that made it clear that that was that.

Caster question nevertheless raised doubt in Ritsuka's mind. Why was he chosen to be a master? How could he deserve such a position when the director was clearly the better choice.

He wasn't able to mull over more questions as Caster yelled out an incantation seemingly burning a projectile that came from somewhere.

"It appears our friend Archer has appeared." Caster stated. "He'll probably try to get back to Saber now that he failed his attack. No worries though, I'll make sure to defeat him before he is able. Though you will have to stall Saber as she might try to come and help out Archer, and I certainly cannot take them on both. I'm counting on you, see ya." He then sprinted off into the forest, vanishing from sight.

"Let's get going then." The director said, taking up the initiative. "We can't have Caster fight both servants for us."

"Yes, but isn't it too dangerous?" Ritsuka asked entering the cave along with everyone else.

"Would you rather have us not fight?" The director asked.

"Of course not, it's just that I don't think we'll be able to make it through unharmed."

The director stared at him with raised eyebrows as she cast a fireball on her hand to light up the cave. "You expected us to go through this unharmed?"

Ritsuka cringed as the words were spoken back to him. They might have been too optimistic now that he heard them from someone else. "Not anymore, but it doesn't mean I particularly like it."

"That's fair." The director nodded. "But for this upcoming fight there will be hurt, no matter how little you like it."

Before Ritsuka could trouble himself more with his thoughts they reached a large clearing. The walls of the clearing emanated a purplish glow which filled the area, enough to be able to see without the now snuffed fireball. They could all feel the immense mana coming from further out in the clearing. Though he had his doubts before, Ritsuka was now certain they would suffer here. The aura was oppressing, even this far away from the source. He felt cold sweat fall down his face and felt horror at having to get close to it.

The director walked forwards.

"She appears to be far stronger than expected. You are to stay here where it's safe."

"I won't allow that director," Mash said. "You alone will most likely perish."

The director clicked her tongue as she stared down at Mash. "I won't have you in the way of danger, do you hear me?"

Mash simply stared back at the director. The director grit her teeth as paced forward and back with her fist tightened.

"It . . . seems you won't relent. Very well, but stay back, I don't want you to be in needless danger. Ritsuka, you stay here." And as she finished she went forwards followed by Mash.

Ritsuka stared at them with horror. They were walking to their deaths. There was no way they would be able to stand against such overpowering force. Mash would have to defend them against that, to take all its blows in kind just to protect them, protect him.

He knew he should be walking forwards, but his legs refused to. He was scared. He felt sick to his stomach. He saw them walking and thought about how he should be there instead of them. They didn't deserve to fight such a force, so why should they. He should be the one fighting and stalling it while they remained free from suffering. They shouldn't die, so he mustn't let them.

He stepped forwards with his trembling legs, catching up to the two. He wouldn't let harm befall anyone, not when he could do something, anything.

"I thought I told you to stay back." The director said with irritation.

"I-I can't let you go by yourselves, I have to do something."

"No, no you don't." The director commanded. "Now head back, this is an order . . . You too, Mash, I was wrong to say you could come."

"That's a strange servant you've got there," A voice cut through the air. "It'd be a shame to have go away without a fight, wouldn't you say."

The trio turned towards the voice to see a pale woman in black armor that had red cracks all throughout it approaching them. She wore a long, flowing skirt which hid her legs. She wore no helmet which allowed everyone to see her glaring golden eyes. Her skin was pale, almost white, and her blonde hair tied back into a braided bun looked dulled in color.

She spoke with command. "I see she has a shield, I suggest you ready it lest you wish to be cut down."

She readied her black sword with red markings as she walked forwards with no real hurry.

"Everyone get behind me." The director commanded as she aimed at the approaching servant and firing a couple of mana spheres.

Saber deflected them with her sword and raised her eyebrow at the director, as if questioning her ability. She then pointed at the director with her hand and before anyone could react she fired a beam of black.

Just barely the director was able to activate a gem which summoned an ethereal shield which blocked the beam but still sent her a few meters back.

Not missing a beat, Saber dashed towards Mash, raising her sword, ready to bring it down. Mash braced herself for the blow, planting her feet strong on the ground and preparing her shield for whenever the strike would come. The opposing servant smirked. She swung her sword straight at the shield, not even trying to get around it, almost as if she were trying to show off her raw strength.

Mash felt metal hit metal, and along with it the immense difference in power between each other. She had felt it before and knew that she wasn't as strong as Saber, but the oppressing force she felt once the sword struck her shield had made her feel as if she was drowning, and no matter what she did she would fall right there. Her hands were trembling and her mind couldn't form a thought as she breathed in and out. She looked around and saw she had been sent sliding a couple of feet back towards her master who was speaking to her though she couldn't hear any of what he was saying, all she could focus on was the bemused smirk on the face of Saber as she held her sword to her side. She then realized that she should've been dead. She could tell from Saber's amused eyes that she hadn't put all her strength behind that blow, she might have even stopped short of doing a full swing, had she put all she could into it she would be in pieces on the floor.

She could see herself sliced up the ground in front of her, pieces of her scattered, the shield and armor worth nothing against such insurmountable power. She felt as if she could begin crying right there. The thought of dying had never scared her, but now with it's doors being right in front of her she was terrified.

"Mash!" Ritsuka cried, shaking her shoulders to make her focus on him. "Mash, don't worry, you won't be hurt anymore, I promise you, you won't have to die nor anyone else." He swallowed hard. "I-I'll make sure to stop her for you, so you won't have to fight. So please don't give in to despair."

Mash's eyes focused on Ritsuka as she listened to his words. His idealistic and naive words made her regain some semblance of control within her. _What an idiot._ Were her thoughts. _There is no way you'll be able to take her on, she is way beyond our league, and even then, I, as a servant, should be the one to die for her masters. That is the way it should be. _

She shook her nervousness off as much as she could and glared at Ritsuka. "No, I won't let you do that. You wouldn't last a second against her. And if you did die I would follow you soon with me being your servant and living off your mana."

Ritsuka hadn't thought about the idea of him dying affecting others so when she mentioned her fate once she died he really didn't know what to do. He could still engage Saber but even if he was able to stall her enough for Caster to arrive, he would certainly be near death, something he wouldn't risk on the off chance it would kill Mash. Once again he wasn't given much time to think about it as Mash walked up past the director who had taken up the vanguard in her stead towards Saber who had simply been standing there, watching with amusement.

"You would lie to your master?" Saber asked low enough for only Mash to hear. "In my time that would be grounds for an execution."

Mash gripped her shield as hard as she could with her trembling hands. "It is better than him dying, a master can always summon more servants." She said not letting her nervousness show in her voice.

"Then I shall act as the executor and bring down judgment against thee." She readied her sword.

_Yes, this is much better. If he died there would be no one else to command servants in Chaldea, considering that all the other masters might be dead or in critical condition. On the other hand if I am the one to go nothing would really change, if anything Chaldea would run smoother without them worrying about me. _She had made up her mind. She would fight to the end to bring success to the mission. She readied her shield and before the fight began she allowed herself a small smile along with another thought.

_. . . It was nice to have someone be so worried about me._

Saber lunged forwards and Mash prepared herself to try to deflect the blow, but she never got the chance as Saber was flung back a couple meters mid jump by some magecraft fired by the director.

Saber frowned as she dusted off her armor. "Interfering in someone else's duel is a grave offense." She told the director. "I assure you I will respond in kind."

She then dashed at the director who fired mana spheres that were easily deflected. Before Saber could get to the director, Mash blocked Saber's path. Saber, not missing a beat, changed her stance and swung at Mash, but a well placed mana sphere hit her on the leg making her strike falter and only made Mash slide a couple steps back.

Saber pointed her hand at the director and fired a small black beam. The director was caught of guard and stumbled back as she tried to avoid it. Just as it was about to hit her a gem appeared, bursting into a large mana shield, deflecting the beam.

Risuka prepared another gem as Saber was now dashing at him. He flung a gem at Saber as he backstepped away. As the one gem burst in a show of light and smoke he dropped three gems on the ground as he back stepped further away from the still pursuing servant, but before she could get him the gems the dropped gems burst into an explosion of colors, sending Ritsuka flying a couple of feet.

The director, who had been able to keep her balance despite the large gust of wind caused by the explosion, was preparing an incantation for whenever Saber dashed out of the smoke. She did not have to wait long as Saber ran out of the smoke, her armored nicked, hair disheveled and skirt sporting a hole were her spell landed, and upon Saber noticing the director, dashed straight towards her.

The director fired the incantation; a large blue fireball made its way towards Saber who wasn't deterred in the slightest, simply opting to infuse her sword with the same black energy she fired before and slice through the ball of fire, allowing her to continue her dash towards the shocked director.

Before she made it to the director she changed directions to intercept Mash who had been planning to stop Saber in her tracks before she made it to the director. Mash, shocked at being the one intercepted, stopped in her tracks and prepared herself to deflect a strike. Saber, being fired at by both magus, opted not to strike with her sword but to bash the shield with her shoulder, sending surprised Mash flying back. Saber then in a swift motion turned and ran at the director who kept firing projectiles.

Though Saber tried to make her way towards her she was having difficulty maneuvering past the projectiles; she couldn't dodge past them so she was forced to deflect them and when she did progress advancing she'd be stopped by a gem flung by Ritsuka which halted her movement. She could wait it out and wait for their mana to run out but if she did so she risked Caster arriving and this becoming a four on one, an unsavory scenario.

She dashed forwards towards the director, her dashing making it harder to deflect the many projectiles causing some to land on her but she kept on running. Mash was too far away to be able to get in her way, so she was free to strike at the director.

The director seeing how Saber wouldn't stop, grabbed all the gems she had left and waited until Saber was nearly on top of her to throw them up in front of her. A couple of shield gems mixed in there burst into multiple layers of cover for the director as all the other gems burst into an explosion of elements and power, flinging Saber across the cave and into a wall and the director back a notable distance.

Ritsuka made a mad dash towards the fallen director. His throat was dry through all his shouting out the name of whoever was in danger at the moment. He scrambled through his remaining gems in search of the ones meant for healing. As he applied the gems and allowed his mana to flow into them to heal her wounds Mash came up to them.

"How is she?" She asked.

"S-She'll be fine, She _will_ be fine." Ritsuka answered agonizing over the slow procedure. _Why can't I heal her quicker, dammit._

Mash then turned as she felt a large influx of mana coming from where Saber was sent flying to. A pillar of black energy erupted and the echoing words of Saber made their way across the cave.

"Excalibur-"

"Ritsuka, focus on healing the director." Before Ritsuka could respond Mash dashed forward and planted her shield on the ground, her quivering hands gripping the shield's handle tightly as she took a stance.

"-Morgan!"

The black pillar was swung downwards and a the same black energy was shot straight at Mash who could do nothing but wait for the impact.

It hit the shield with immense power, power which reverberated through the shield and into Mash. Her body cried out in pain as they kept sliding backwards bit by bit, her legs seemingly unable to bring a stop to the movement. The pressure building up against the shield made Mash tremble in front of such power, it wouldn't take long for it to over take her and those behind her. But she couldn't let that happen. Even as her arms agonized under the stress she couldn't allow the black energy to go past her shield.

As she felt her arms give she felt like crying. Her arms burned in pain and would soon be unable to hold up the shield. She would have failed them. Mash try as she might could not hold the shield, she had to bite at her lip to stop herself from crying out.

She wished it could be over. That it would just end. And soon she felt her councioness slipping.

She had tried and failed. The was simply no chance she could hold up against her sword. She was too weak, therefore there was no need to prolong the inevitable, might as well put an end to it. The chances of survival, after all, were zero.

Maybe if she had she been stronger she would have been able to stop this, had she simply bothered to know the heroic spirit she might have been able to use his noble phantasm to stop this. But she hadn't. And she had no one to blame but herself.

She felt a hand grasp hers atop the handle of the shield.

She turned to see Ritsuka holding up the shield as best as he could. She was befuddled. What could he do? His body was below the average person physically so why would he do this? If she could not hold the sword back how could he?

"Mash," Ritsuka said through gritted teeth. "Though you may reprimand me for doing what you may call a useless endeavor, know that I will not stop, I will do all I can to save everyone in front of me. That includes you. Were you to die when I could've done something I would never forgive myself. That's why I'm doing this. I will do everything in my power to bring us home. That is why all three of us will live!"

The markings on his hand shone red as one the three disappeared.

Mash felt her strength coming back. Her mind was racing. She felt as if she could stand up against the beam, She felt as if she could push it back.

She stood up straight and held the shield up as she yelled at the top of her lungs.

The shield shone a blue color as a bigger shield seemed to come out of it, extending and growing as it pushed back the black beam until it became a large bluish white wall which completely deflected the energy back towards the source causing a large explosion of black to occur where Saber once stood.

She stared at the dissipating blue wall with awe. She should've died. All of them should've died. But they didn't. If Ritsuka had taken a moment longer to reach her she knew it would've been too late. She had given up, and she was about to let go of her shield.

She was supposed to ensure everyone's survival, everyone's goals, but she was about to squander that.

Maybe Ritsuka wasn't so wrong.

Mash felt her new found strength disappear from her body as her legs gave out from underneath her. She could see the ground getting closer and braced herself for the impact but it never came.

"Mash, are you alright?"

Mash clenched and unclenched her fist as she lay held by Ritsuka's arms. "I'm not hurt, but I am tired. I could still fight if needed" She said. She had no illusions of her being able to survive another bout against Saber, but she might might be able to hold her off long enough for Caster to arrive, after all, she was meant to create a path to victory.

"Any last words?" The commanding voice of Saber made everyone turn to see her approaching. She was wounded, parts of her armor gone and her hair no longer was tied to the neat bun that held it. She had her sword readied with the same black energy covering it, biding its time until it unleashed another beam.

"My magecraft is a cage of flames," The voice of Caster resounded throughout the cavern. "A flaming yet verdant giant.

"Retribution.

"The shrine that purifies the evil of human affairs."

Caster appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Even thought Saber expected him to appear based on his chant she hadn't expected him to appear right in front of her. She raised her sword as she bounced back, prepared to fire at Caster.

"The one who destroys.

"Wickerman!"

As Caster finished his chant from the ground below Saber erupted a wooden arm, sending her flying back. The arm was followed by a head, a body, and legs, until there stood a giant wickerman.

Saber wasted no time firing her noble phantasm, excalibur morgan, at the wickerman. In response it clocked the beam with one of its arms as it advanced towards her, losing it as the blast collided with it. Using its remaining arm it swung at Saber who deftly dodged it by jumping up on it, but before she could make it far she was struck by multiple fireballs.

Caster paid careful attention at Saber and fired at her whenever she opened herself up when dealing with the wickerman. Whenever she tried to fire her noble phantasm at the wooden man she was targeted by Caster, and whenever she tried to close the distance between her and Caster she was intercepted by the wickerman.

Ritsuka laid Mash on the ground and stood to support caster despite her protest. Mash tried to follow him but was apparently much weaker than she thought as she couldn't even sit up. She didn't have to follow after him though since after walking a few feet he was bound to the ground by the ground itself, losing his balance he fell forwards and ground effectively immobilized him.

"Sorry kid, can't have you interfering." As soon as Ritsuka began to protest the ground covered his mouth rendering him mute.

Caster focused back on Saber and continued the game of cat and mouse.

As the wickerman overshot one of its swings, Saber took the opportunity to close the distance between her and Caster. Caster fired many fireballs and many of them were cut clean through by Saber's sword, but she wasn't able to stop all so she was hit by some of them, inflicting even more damage upon her.

Caster, as he saw her getting closer, realized fireballs wouldn't be enough and changed his stance; holding his staff as if it were a spear in a defensive position.

Saber was almost on top of Caster as she swung her sword downwards. Caster deftly redirected the strike to make it fall to his side. The sword cracked the ground as it impaled it, the momentary opening allowed Caster to draw a rune on Saber's armor and quickly jumped away. Saber did not let it go unnoticed, and before the rune burst into an explosion, she quickly turned so that the rune faced opposite of Caster.

As the rune burst into an explosion, the power of it sent her flying straight at Caster whose face was unable to hide his surprise. He brought up his staff to block Saber as she swung her sword, cutting through his staff and arm as is it were butter.

The momentum of the explosion still carrying her made her go a few more feet before falling and rolling on the ground. She stood up using her sword as a crutch. Her armor was cracked and the part covering the left side of her stomach was gone, showing her charred and bleeding wound caused by the explosion. The rest of her outfit was also burned, showing her pale skin with reddish black spots where Casters spells landed among many more cuts and bruises.

Caster stood a couple meters away with his remaining hand pointing at her, ready to cast any magecraft, where his other arm once laid now there was exposed muscle and bone with blood flowing rapidly from the wound, tainting his body and clothes.

She prepared herself to attack once again but her whole body was immobilized from all sides by the hand of the wickerman. As much as she struggled there was nothing she could do as the wicker man slammed its fist into its the gut. There was a moment of silence as Caster aimed at the still wickerman and shot a small fireball.

Muffled grunts could be heard as the fireball got closer to its target until it collided, setting the wickerman into flames as they covered it. The wickerman remained still as the flames consumed it and Saber, lighting up the whole cave in a show of heat and light. The wickerman began to crumble under its own weight as it burned until there were but ashes.

Caster sighed as the essence of Saber disappeared. He turned and walked towards the trio and couldn't help but chuckle as Ritsuka desperately tried to get out of the restraints he placed on him while yelling about how he should get Caster healed while Mash simply sat there not at all paying attention at the demands of her master.

He felt his energy begin to dissipate as the his holy grail war came to an end, not like he would've lasted longer anyways.

"Hey, kid, young lady," Caster said, his body beginning to disperse into the air with a golden glow, bringing Ritsuka's and Mash's attention at him. "You did good. Young lady, you are assured to become a really strong servant if you were able to hold out against Saber, who I find I grossly underestimated. Had you not inflicted much damage upon her I would've been finished. Just see how I ended up after fighting against her together with my noble phantasm." He motioned towards his missing arm.

"That's why you should've let me help you!" Ritsuka cried. "Even now you don't let me help you when you are clearly wounded."

Caster sighed. "Kid, if you had fought with me I think there would've been a higher chance of us losing, because as of now, you are a hindrance." Ritsuka visibly recoiled, he stopped his crying about helping Caster and just sat there, still restrained, all energy he showed seemingly vanish from his face as he lowered his gaze.

"Goodness," Caster muttered. "Kid, listen, I say that as of now you are a hindrance not as an insult but as a form of telling you that you still have ways to go. You are certain to make a great master one day, it will not be today nor tomorrow, but one day. You were able to push your servant to invoke a noble phantasm without knowing its true name, though it is weaker than it would be otherwise I am sure that with you she'll be able to discover it."

Ritsuka looked up at Caster who gave him a reassuring smile. "Kid, you have a good heart, but you need to learn to keep it in check. I'm sure the young lady can help you with that." As he felt his body having but seconds left he gave a smirk. "Now I won't say this twice so you better pay attention. I am Ireland's child of light, the hound of Culann, Cú Chulainn. Feel free to summon me when you require any help, but if you do, please do summon me as a Lancer." With a final wave of his hand he disappeared into the air.

The dirt restraints around Ritsuka's limbs loosened and crumbled. Though he was now free to move he remained silent and only moved when the director began to stir.

"W-What happened?" The director asked, clutching her head.

"Caster defeated Saber." Ritsuka answered as he examined the director.

"I see." The director then slowly stood and stretched her limbs. "It seems the mission has been completed and overall we are all fine." She said as she looked over the pair. "I suppose all that's left is to get the grail which must have been the cause of all this and retrieve it."

"That is correct," A new voice echoed throughout the clearing. "You were able to defeat Saber and are well on you way to restoring this singularity."

"That voice . . . It can't be." The director said with a mix of shock and joy.

"Oh, but it is," Said professor Lev as he strolled towards them.

"H-How is it that you're here?" Ritsuka asked.

"It is simple really, I was here to oversee this operation to make sure it succeeded." Lev said.

"What do you mean-" The director was cut short as Lev rammed his walking stick into her gut, making her fall to the ground.

Ritsuka was too shocked to react in time to a mana sphere hitting him square in the chest and flinging him back a few feet.

Mash raised her shield but in her weakened state it only took a couple of spells to set it off her hands allowing spells to collide directly with her, making her fall to the ground, unable to stand.

"My goodness," Lev fired some spells at the prone director before walking off to retrieve the Holy Grail which had no materialized. "This wasn't supposed to end like this, you know. You were all supposed to die in that accident but of course there had to be something that didn't go according to plan." He sighed as he made his way back to the downed trio. "I swear. I mean, it would've been fine if it was just that idiot kid, and maybe Olga to a certain extent, but why did you have to go and awaken the heroic spirit within you now of all times?" He asked Mash. "It has been god knows how many years since we tried to get you to contract with it but now you decide to do it? Fantastic."

"W-Why are you doing this?" The director managed to utter.

"Oh, you can still speak." Lev muttered. He stared at the grail and chuckled. "I guess you wouldn't know yet, would you?" He pointed his walking stick up into the air and a from the air a portal appeared leading back to central control room in Chaldeas. Though now it wasn't afire the red sphere still gave the room a red tint.

"I-It can't be." The director muttered. "That can't be real."

"Oh but it is." Lev said. "You see, I linked space and time to show you this. With the Holy Grail many things are possible."

The director kept muttering about lies under her breath as Lev kept smiling. He then turned his sights at Ritsuka.

"I suppose you have no idea what we're talking about do you?" Before Ritsuka was able to respond he was hit with another mana sphere. "I didn't say you could talk . . . Well, I could tell you but I'd just leave that job to Romani who, unfortunately, still lives. He was supposed to be present when the explosion hit but you just had to make him late. Tough I suppose I carry some of the blame as well for sending you to the medical office. But seriously, the one time I don't want him in the medical wing he's there, how unlucky is that?

"Anyways, you can bother him for information regarding why the director is acting like a mess right now." He sighed. " . . . I guess I should kill you guys now, but I won't. You see, you and Mash have caused some inconveniences for me, and I'm sure that your demise will be more enjoyable later on. Besides, I sincerely doubt you buffoons will be able to complete the Grand/Order . . . That is, of course, if the director isn't there to help you. Even I have to admit that she is very skilled, and given her insane disposition she has showed the years I've worked under her she would be able to a less gruesome end. That is why she'll be the one dying today."

Ritsuka's eyes widened as he heard the words leave Lev's mouth. He slowly stood only to be once again blasted by magecraft and to have himself restrained by a spell that made the dirt trap him similar to that of Caster's.

His muffled screams fell on seemingly deaf ears as Mash did not stir and the director kept on muttering, seemingly unaware of what had just been spoken.

Lev pointed his cane at the director and made her float in the air.

"W-What is this?" The director demanded.

"Just some magecraft enhanced by the Holy Grail. But don't worry, soon you won't have anything to worry about."

"What do you mean?" She asked fear creeping into her voice.

"I know how much you love Chaldeas. You gave up so much for it. It would just break my heart to see you witness its downfall. That's why I will do you a favor and make you one and the same." Lev smiled.

The director's face showed utter fear towards the man. She tried to struggle but couldn't move from her place in the air. All she could do was give muffled cries as she was brought closer towards the portal leading back to Chaldeas and the large red sphere.

"No need to thank me, after all I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart. You will finally be able to touch the treasure of the Chaldea Security Organization. Of course, its similar in structure to that of a black hole, or rather the sun, pick your choice, with some added factors, so it means that you will be split at a molecular level once you enter it . . . In other words you will experience living infinite death." He said amiably, the cries of the director seemingly incentivising him to continue. "It's great, isn't it? You won't have to worry about Chaldeas or anything anymore because you'll have your hands full relieving death over and over again."

The director struggled as she got closer to Chaldeas. She screamed, kicked, cried. As the red sphere got closer she felt the strange heat emanating from it. She thought back to her lackluster accomplishments. To her father's dream which she was meant to achieve. She had yet to accomplish anything meaningful. She had yet to prove her worth. She had yet to do so many things.

And just like that she was gone.

"Can't say I'll miss her." Lev finally said. The cavern then began to shake. "Well, it seems the singularity is falling apart. You two better hope that the team back at Chaldeas is able to pinpoint your location to rayshift you back, otherwise you'll be forever lost in a time you don't belong."

And with those final words and a snap of his fingers he too disappeared into thin air.

The whole cavern shook as rocks fell down from the ceiling.

Mash, her body still weak, pulled herself through the dirt towards Ritsuka who was silent as the world collapsed around them. She had to get close to Ritsuka so that the team back at Chaldeas had a better chance of rayshifting both of them back. She dug her fingers into the dirt as she got closer and closer towards Ritsuka. She felt her strength as a servant disappear, instead replaced by her strength as a frail girl. The weight of her armor dug onto her back as she was just in front of Ritsuka. She had only to extend her hand a bit further, that was all it would take. She was there, almost there, almost . . . There.

* * *

**A/N: We did it. Finally done with Singularity F, thank goodness. I believe this singularity in total was over 20k words. This was supposed to be the short one, remember that. Lovely, isn't it?**

**Anywho, ****Romani never appeared,**** Fou isn't here (I'm not entirely sure if he was even present in this singularity though), ****Olga deafeated a servant, Servants are weaker, Archer never appeared and was defeated off-screen, Salter didn't own the trio in the first minute, Caster loses an arm, Fanfic Lev isn't FGO Lev, Olga is dead, and fade to black.**

**There was a lot of stuff, let's go from the top. I remembered haflways through writing that Romani should've appeared but I couldn't be bothered to write him in. I would've had to re-write a bunch of stuff and it would've been pretty crowded with more than three or so characters . . . Wait a minute, how many characters are in France again? Eh, I'll cross the bridge once I get to it.**

**Servants are weaker, the director defeated a servant. So the reasoning behind them being weaker is so that Ritsuka can actually so something later on instead of shouting encouragment and getting one hit by a servant. Servants are dumb strong.**

**Was the fighting ok? I'm not sure how I feel about it, I haven't written too many fight sequences and I'm not sure this one holds water. On the other hand, was it too graphic? It might have been with Salter being toasted alive along with burnt skin all over her and Caster losing an arm. Is this still T? I think it is but I'm not sure. I might've gone too far when the director was being toasted though.**

**Dialogue, dialogue dialogue dialogue. Goodness. I haven't had that much experience writing so I don't know if it was good or not. I've certainly read a lot so maybe after a week I'll reread this and cringe. I know what I want to write and what I want to do with the characters, but I'm not sure I'm conveying it well enough, especially Mash. I know what her character arc will be, I have it in my head, but hmhmhmhmh. Ritsuka I might've made him too annoying though. He is kind of like Shirou from F/SN - I really like that character archetype by the way; Self sacrificing baboon - but I'd like to make him distinct enough, but that might hurt his likeability. If you found him to be an idiot then know that he won't remain that way.**

**Lev. I was bored while writing him so I just changed him completely. He now is a complete psycho. *Sigh* Well, that should be it for OOC characters, everyone else should remain relatively the same, well, as much the same as I am able to write them.**

**The director, she too was rewritten, as you might have noticed, and she is still dead. Yes. Well, you might be wondering why I didn't include the whole thing about her having already died back at Chaldeas and her not being able to go back because she was something akin to a ghost. Wait. You weren't wondering about that? You are asking what that was about? Exactly, what the heck was that subplot meant for Nasu? Why would you introduce it if it served no point? That's why I scrapped it, there was no reason for it to exist and we shan't speak of it again. The director is still dead though, but now, her character having been rewritten, she served her purpose for the story . . . Your asking what that purpose was? Well, guess, I like to think I've made it obvious enough, then again I've just started writing so eh.**

**France here we go.**

**P.S: Don't be surprised if there's no chapter next week or next next week, writing takes time, and this chapters sure take time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hahahah . . . Man am I lazy. Anywho, congratulations for actually getting past the previous chapters, I read them back and just yikes. Well, this chapter's not as long as the other ones, by a longshot, but it's something.  
**

* * *

Ritsuka opened his eyes as he awoke. He was sitting in what seemed to be an empty void.

He looked around but found nothing.

"I must have died." He stated. He did not feel sad about it, just felt empty.

"I'm afraid that is not true, my good sir."

Ritsuka snapped his head towards the source of the voice only to see the small, white fluffy pet of Mash. He blinked a few times and gazed around the void to find anything else, but there wasn't, the only thing accompanying him was the white-furred animal who seemed to be appraising him.

"Erm, hello." Ritsuka muttered, not entirely sure what was happening. Last he remembered he had failed and let the director get killed. He clutched his face with one hand as he sighed.

"Well, yes, greetings to you too." The Furball said.

Ritsuka furrowed his brow as he gazed at the talking pet. He knew that it was speaking at him, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything, he was at a loss for words.

"Well," It began. "You are not dead, my good fellow, just in a comatose state." It stared as Ritsuka furrowed his brow further trying to make sense of the situation. "Luckily for you, I am able to wake you up from this state, that is if you so wish."

Ritsuka raised an eyebrow and then gave an empty chuckle. "Why would you even bother. There is no point for me to wake up from this . . . Dream? It'd be better if I just died."

The thing laughed. "Please, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have to. You see, you are the only one who can save the world right now."

" . . . What?" Ritsuka said with a dumb expression.

"T'is simple, you see. The world is in peril and you are the only one who can save it." It said matter of factly.

Ritsuka blinked as he took in the furball's concise answer. "I-I think you've got the wrong guy . . . How can I save the world when I can't save anyone? I've let so many people die . . . I should've done something, I should've been in their place." He muttered. He sighed as he dipped his face into his hands. "There has to be someone more qualified than me, otherwise the world really is doomed if what you say is true."

It sighed. "Listen, sport, the world really is doomed." Ritsuka looked at the ball of fur. "The chances of it ending are, I will not mince words, astronomically high, _but_, that being the key word, you can do something to prevent that."

"Didn't you listen to what I said!" Ritsuka screamed, remembering the hellhole he was just at. "I'm useless!"

"Bloody hell," It muttered. "Listen here now, you are the one who made me do this. I could care less whether Earth collapsed or whatever, but there is someone I care about living here, and she would have died if you had not interfered, but you did, and now she lives another day, for that, I thank you but also require for you to stand up and fight with her. I am most certain that if she goes alone she would not last a day. Remember, you saved someone, but that someone will die if you keep sitting there like an ass, that life that you supposedly care so much for will die while you remain here."

Ritsuka sat there. He knew who it was talking about. Mash. He _did _save her, and if he did not wake up she'd die. He would not let more people die, he could not.

"You are certainly not the primest of magus'," The furball said. "But your . . ." It looked around almost as if it were searching for words. "Determined, yes, determined attitude to saving people is bound to let you accomplish many things, but be wary as it may also be your downfall."

Ritsuka frowned. "I don't see how saving people will be my downfall."

"Listen, sport, you are above average when it comes to magic, granted, but your physical ability leaves much to be desired. If you overexert yourself you will die trying to save someone."

"I just need some physical training, that's all. I haven't been out of the hospital for too long a while." Ritsuka muttered.

"A hospital, you say?" It tilted its head as it asked.

"Forget it." Ritsuka dismissed it with a wave. "Now you said you could wake me up from this dream, or such. How are you even going to do that?"

"Like this."

The furball barked and the world shone white. Ritsuka reflexively brought up his hands towards his eyes, cursing under his breath about the sudden light. He rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them to see an infirmary. Confused, he looked around and saw that he was inside a bed and atop it was the same furball who he had just spoken with staring at him, not breaking eye contact.

Ritsuka massaged his temple as he sighed. _What a weird dream._

He looked back at the white animal and couldn't help but feel unnerved by it. Its eyes, unblinking, made him feel as if he was being judged. He guessed it might have had something to do with the trippy dream he just had, but still, he could not help but remain still under its gaze, after all that dream felt eerily real.

Ritsuka slowly pulled off the blankets and got off the bed. His eyes did not leave the white animal nor did it's from him. He brought up his hand towards his face and smacked himself. The sound resonated in the room along with his own muffled whimpers.

Ritsuka stared back at the furball and it remained unmoved from its spot, though he could not help but see a glint in its eye, implying his amusement.

He broke eye contact with the small beast and reached for a set of clothes that had been left on a nearby table. He was about to start changing when he felt the boring gaze of the animal on his back. He pulled on the curtains and changed into the clean clothes.

He walked over to the door but as he had his hand on the handle he stared back at where the bed hidden by the curtains would be, picturing the animal staring at him through the plastic sheets. With a slight grimace he walked back and pulled on the curtains and as it had always been doing the animal was staring straight at him. Ritsuka muttered to himself as he picked up the small animal and exited the room, all the while avoiding its gaze as it never left him.

He walked around Chaldea for a while, quite lost on where he was. He met several dead ends as collapsed rubble-filled hallways, staircases and rooms. He was now continuously pressing the call button of the elevator. By the unchanging number that indicated the elevator's location, he knew that it would never come to pick him up, and yet he still continued pressing it.

"You _do_ know that is never going to work, right?" A feminine voice asked playfully.

Ritsuka turned and whatever words he had in his mind vanished as he stared at the smiling woman in front of him. She had an unparalleled beauty that left him speechless. She was twirling one of her cascading brown locks with her slender finger.

"So? Is that a no?" She said with a small chuckle hidden by her porcelaine hands.

"Er, umm, I mean . . ." Ritsuka fumbled as the woman's piercing, deep blue eyes remained on him, eyes that made Ritsuka mumble.

"I take it you have been wandering the halls for a while now." She said with a million dollar smile.

Ritsuka took a deep breath and composed himself, even if slightly. "Y-Yes, I have . . . Though I wasn't alone, I had it with me." He held the animal he had been carrying forwards.

She grasped her hands behind her back and hummed as she looked at the animal. "I had been wondering where Fou was, though I did guess he was with you." She turned her eyes from the Fou back to Ritsuka with a small frown. "But do you know how worried we all were when we went to see how you were doing only to find out you were gone?"

Ritsuka felt his cheeks warm as he stared at the woman whose small frown only enhanced her beauty, while trying to maintain a straight face. "I apologize, I do hope I did not cause much trouble."

The woman sighed as she balanced herself on her heels. "No, in comparison to all the other problems, yours was quite minor." She spun on her heels, her skirt flowed through the air before resting just below her knees as she began walking along the hallway. She looked back at Ritsuka and motioned him to follow her. "I will tell you, though, that Romani was quite worried, so was Mash, so do keep that in mind when we see them.

Ritsuka nodded absently as he followed the woman and not once did they hit a dead end. She kept on talking on and on while Ritsuka answered, no longer tripping over his words. He was beginning to suspect that this woman was someone rather important here at Chaldea, after all, her clothes were not even close to what the rest of the staff had been wearing. Her dress having reds, browns and blues that contrasted with the bleak hallways, add to it that only high ranking members he had seen had been wearing clothes other than the staff's uniform.

"Excuse me," Ritsuka spoke up, earning a raised eyebrow from the woman as this had been the first he had started speaking. "I realize I should have asked this already, but what happened here?"

The woman's cheery expression darkened. "We were betrayed. Simple as that. An explosive here and there, wait for the right moment and then poof." She mimicked an explosion with her hands.

"There's more than that though, isn't there?" He knew there was, after all, he _was_ sent to a burning city where hell was rampant.

A sigh escaped her lips as she stared forlornly at the distance. "Yes, yes there is . . ." But as soon as it came she began smiling once again. "But don't you worry your pretty little head about it yet, we still have to find Romani. We don't want him to die of worry, now do we?" She said as she strolled along the hallway.

"No, certainly not." He said. As he stared at the back of the woman he realized something obvious that had slipped his mind. "Your name."

The woman stared back at Ritsuka curiously before having her eyes widen. "Oh, oh my. I apologize, I had forgotten to introduce myself." She stopped walking and turned towards Ritsuka, she opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it with a smirk. She crossed her arms and gave a sort of half-smile. "Do I remind you of anything?" She asked with a giddiness that betrayed her expression.

Ritsuka stared at the woman, bewildered at the sudden question. He racked his head trying to think of anything but couldn't find something or someone that reminded him of her. Though the woman maintained a calm expression her eyes shone with clear anticipation causing Ritsuka to squirm as he truly could not think of anything and yet he couldn't just let her down when she expected something from him.

After about a minute of Ritsuka scrambling for an answer, the woman sighed with disappointment.

"I was sure it was more famous than this." She muttered with a pout.

"I am so, so sorry," Ritsuka dipped his head as he spoke resolutely. "If there is anything I can do for you please let me know."

Silence filled the hallway as the woman stared at the young man before she snorted out a laugh. Ritsuka looked up with confusion as he did not know what was so funny. He patiently waited for the woman to stop laughing, but she wouldn't, she just kept on wheezing. Her laugh was a stark contrast with her image of grace and beauty, if he hadn't been hearing it he wouldn't have believed it left a mouth as beautiful as hers.

"Ok, ok, ok" She said in-between breaths. "Oh man, that wasn't even that funny . . . Anyways, you don't owe me anything, Ritsuka, it's fine if you don't recognize me, even if it _was_ a little disappointing."

Ritsuka mumbled out a few words arguing against that, but under the penetrating gaze of the woman, he simply nodded.

"Alright, well, I suppose you still have to put a name to my face." She scratched her chin as he thought before just shrugging her shoulders. "Call me Da Vinci."

Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. "Like the artist?"

The woman's smile beamed at that. "Yes! Exactly like the artist." Still beaming she began walking down the hallway once again with a slight skip to her step.

Not waiting for a queue, Ritsuka followed behind Da Vinci, listening as she spoke on and on about a variety of different things. As they made their way through hallways and staircases he began seeing more and more people walking around. The hallways seemed cracked in a few places but they overall seemed fine, that is on the upper floors, the lower they went the more broken the hallways ended up being. Now as they made their way to the central control room, the hallways leading to it were beyond just being cracked, the pristine white from before was no more as the walls were tinted grey were there where any walls, otherwise you could just see the circuitry and the foundations of the hallways. That didn't seem to deter Da Vince though, she just kept on talking with a cheery attitude that contrasted the bleak atmosphere.

"Here we are." Da Vinci showed with her hands. A large gate stood in front of them, Ritsuka recognized it right away as the one that led to what previously was a fiery graveyard. He knew they were coming here after recognizing the way, even so, he felt his breath hitch as he stared up at it. He knew that what was behind the gate wasn't the hell he remembered, but still, he couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what had happened inside that room.

The creaking of the opening gates did not help ease Ritsuka, and neither did the slowness of it.

"Sorry about that." Da Vinci sighed. "The gate just doesn't want to operate normally no matter how much I try to fix it. I'm seriously considering just leaving it open for the rest of the year at this rate."

Though the gate was opening slowly, it was clear that the room inside no longer was in deep flames. Even if it should've been no surprise, Ritsuka still felt a wave of relief wash through him. He waited there in front of the opening gates until the sound of something snapping caused the gates to stop. Ritsuka turned towards Da Vinci who groaned while holding her face in her hands.

"Ritsuka, just try to squeeze through the gap." She muttered dejectedly as she began to walk off. "I'm going to get my tools, tell Romani I said hi."

Ritsuka nodded silently as Da Vinci went deeper into the hallway, shoulders slumped, not once turning back towards the disconcerted young man. Realizing that Da Vinci wouldn't have noticed his nod he quickly yelled out, "O-Of course!"

Through the silent hallway, he could hear the light sound of chuckling moving farther and farther away.

"Ok then," He stared at the gap. It wasn't particularly large, though it also wasn't so small that he couldn't slip through it. He looked over towards where Da Vinci went and saw nothing but the empty corridor, it seems he has to slip through. He peeked through the gap to spy at the room and it truly was a different sight to when he last saw it. Instead of the fiery room with boulders, it was just a blue room filled with boulders.

Slipping in through the crack in the gate he breathed in the no longer scorching air, and yet he could feel his heart beating ever so faster as he recalled the horrible sight.

He looked over at the large orb at the end of the room, no longer a piercing red but a chill blue. He nervously scratched his neck as he walked around the many boulders in the room until he saw a long-haired man laying on the ground.

His blood ran cold.

He dashed over towards Romani but before he could reach him the doctor nearly jumped before noticing Ritsuka and calming down.

"Doctor!" Ritsuka gripped the man's shoulders. "Are you alright?! Are you hurt?! Why were you on the ground?!"

As Ritsuka, with distress clear in his voice, asked more questions, the doctor grabbed the young magus and shook him.

"Calm down." He demanded. As Ritsuka stared up at the man with wide eyes Romani sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh. I've just had a rough night." He sat down on a nearby rock, and with a smile invited Ritsuka to do the same.

Before Ritsuka could speak the doctor began, "I'm sorry." At Ritsuka's confused expression the doctor continued. "Really, I'm sorry. We at Chaldea have put you in a situation that . . ." The doctor's words trailed off.

"Um, I don't understand, but whatever it is you don't have to feel sorry, after all, I was the one who failed."

The doctor stared at him with a pained expression. " . . . No, _you _did not fail, _we_ did." He waved his hand at the room. "We let a maniac into Chaldea because of that there's been quite a mess," He gave a hollow chuckle before standing up. "And because of our errors, we need you to help us."

"Of course," Ritsuka answered, still unsure of what was happening. "Anything I can do to help I will."

"As I can see you are still foggy on the details, with you passing out on arrival, not to mention missing the debriefing, I'll explain . . . We need you to save the world."

The words didn't seem to click in Ritsuka's brain.

"The world outside Chaldea is gone, incinerated by Lev or someone working with Lev. We are alive only thanks to the lens Shiva," He pointed towards the floating blue sphere. "But let a year pass and we too will disappear. You are the only person we can send to fix this situation, everyone else that could do that was killed or was injured and is now on cryosleep."

Ritsuka tried his hardest to grasp the situation but it simply made no sense, after all, how could the world just end suddenly, it made no sense. It had only been a couple weeks since he left home to come to Chaldea, he had talked with his friends before leaving, they were all working on their theories in the Clocktower, his teacher had congratulated him in one of his usual tangents, Helga the housekeeper had made his favourite dish just before he left.

"I know it's hard to hear, but better for you to know of it right away, like ripping off a band-aid." Romani tried to smile as he patted Ritsuka on the shoulder in an attempt to console. Ritsuka looked into the doctor's eyes and knew it was true.

Ritsuka had just said goodbye to his mom a couple of weeks ago.

* * *

**A/N: I'll be changing people's outfits, just so you know.**


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